Despite Boston’s undesirable spot in the Eastern Conference finals, Marcus Smart hopes the Celtics will continue to receive support from the TD Garden crowd Thursday night.
The Celtics currently trail the Heat 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, one loss away from the offseason. A big reason behind that, of course, is because the Celtics lost their first two games at home. Boston is a stunning 4-5 at home this postseason.
Smart, however, shared a message he hopes Green Teamers can get behind.
"We need their energy. We're going to need every last bit of it," Smart told NBC Sports Boston's Abby Chin after the team's shootaround Thursday, some eight hours before the do-or-die contest.
"We know they've been giving it to us, and we haven't lived up to it, to their energy. But we just ask that they don't give up on us. Keep standing and rocking for us and we're going to continue to do the same."
The Celtics are an 8.5-point home favorite entering the game, according to consensus data listed on NESNBets.com, with tipoff set for 8:30 p.m. ET. Should Boston come out on top Thursday night, the East finalists will meet back in South Beach for Game 6 on Saturday night.
