BOSTON — The Celtics have been in this spot before.
In fact, they’ve been in this exact spot.
The Celtics enter Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden knotted at 2-2. The two squads split each homestand, with the away team winning the first game and the home team bouncing back to win the second. If that sounds familiar, it is because the Celtics followed that formula almost to a T one year ago, entering a Game 5 matchup in the Eastern Conference semifinals tied at two games apiece. The only difference? That series came against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Celtics are looking to make it two differences, as they lost that game against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the boys.
Naturally, that has folks wondering if the C’s are looking to pull something from their prior experiences.
Nope.
“No. We haven’t talked about that,” Mazzulla said pregame. “We just kind of talked about what we can learn last game to now and how we can better execute this game.”
There are plenty of people who will have strong opinions on that decision, but it fully makes sense from one standpoint. Boston lost last year to a team that was favored to win the whole damn thing. This year, the C’s are the favorite and are looking to head back to Philadelphia with two chances to move on to the conference finals.
Boston also has a new coach, as Joe Mazzulla has proven to be a very different basketball mind from Ime Udoka, who led the Celtics to the NBA Finals last season. That much has been seen on and off the floor, specifically with how things are viewed after they happen. Case in point: Mazzulla’s timeout decision in Game 4. While that has been talked about to death, it gives a glimpse into the decision-making and ideology of Boston this season.
Perhaps that could benefit the Celtics as they look to avoid a repeat of last season’s Game 5 effort.
