BOSTON -- Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics are right back in the same place, albeit in front of their home crowd at TD Garden, with the season hanging on a thread Thursday night.
Call it déjà vu, right?
Going up against the Miami Heat, the Celtics dodged elimination after beginning the series down 3-0. While tasked with climbing the improbable mountain of making a never-before-seen comeback that 150 teams have previously attempted and failed, Boston has two options before taking on Miami.
"It's win or die," Mazzulla said.
After the Celtics escaped the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games, Mazzulla revealed that he'd spent a fair share of time binge-watching re-runs of the Boston-based 2010 film "The Town." And Mazzulla is drawing on different inspiration with the C's three wins shy of a second straight NBA Finals appearance.
Entering the biggest game of the season, Mazzulla shared how he'd spent the previous 24 hours before the start of Game 5.
"I met three girls under the age of 21 with terminal cancer," Mazzulla revealed. "And I thought I was helping them by talking to them and they were helping me. And so having an understanding about what life is really all about, and watching a girl dying and smiling and enjoying her life. That's what it's really all about."
Throughout making his debut campaign at the helm, Mazzulla's constantly embraced all adversity that's struck the Celtics. In the second half of the year, it was a multi-week drag of slumping until Boston lost its first seed for good. In the playoffs, it was failing all across the board. The urgency, the defensive intensity and especially the coaching. But with history working against Mazzulla's squad, the Celtics can put all of that away -- and they know it.
In maintaining that same mindset with Boston's back against the wall, Mazzulla is doing just about what any Celtics fan can do in taking on Jimmy Butler and the Heat in a must-win playoff contest: Keeping the faith alive.
"The other thing is you always hear people give glory to God and say thank you when they're holding a trophy, but you never hear it in times like this," Mazzulla explained. "So for me, it's an opportunity to sit right where I'm at and be faithful."
