The Boston Celtics had an opportunity on Sunday in Game 4 to put a stranglehold on their best-of-seven series with the Philadelphia 76ers, but it didn’t go their way.
They then had an opportunity to go up 3-2; instead, Boston finds itself in a must-win situation after an embarrassing Game 5 loss at TD Garden on Tuesday night.
Celtics guard Marcus Smart said Boston just couldn’t find their game.
“Everything. Everything went wrong. They made every right play. They made every hustle play. Everything went wrong for us that can go wrong,” Smart said on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “The energy wasn’t right. It could have been better, way better. We know that we understand that … If you’re not ready to come out, at any given moment, this can happen. So you tip your hat off and move on to the next one.”
Being down in the series means the Celtics will have to play their best basketball on the court to defeat the Sixers. Smart said Boston will need to leave it all on the court in order to advance.
“The brutality of it. It’s a true dogfight, scratching and clawing, biting, blood, everything. And if you’re not willing to pretty much get dirty if you’re not willing to bleed. If you’re not willing to break something, willing to tear something, going hard, then you shouldn’t be on that court because that’s what it is,” Smart said. “That’s what the playoffs are about. Hopefully, you stay safe, but that’s the mentality. You gotta go. You gotta be willing to risk it all for these games. And that’s the mentality we got to have.”
Smart said the Celtics have been in the situation in the past and they know what needs to be done.
“It’s easy. We’ve been there before. It’s one game at a time. So you know they’re feeling good,” Smart said. “We got to go into a hostile environment, and we got to go take it. It’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna be a dogfight.”
The Celtics will travel to Philadelphia for Game 6 on Thursday night. Tipoff from Wells Fargo Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
