“Fine job gentlemen, you may get out of this yet.”
The Knicks had ’em.
Up 11-zip after four minutes. The Celtics missed five shots. They turned it over three times. The funeral stuff was all coming true.
From there, the Celtics outscored the Knicks 20-11. They won the middle two quarters 49-38. And they hit huge shots down the stretch to hold off a charging Knicks team to turn their funeral into a resurrection.
And as much as Jordan Crawford was being a prick after the game, he was right about one thing.
“They gotta be upset, their [expletives] tightening up. Of course they upset.”
The pressure is now on the Knicks in a big way. The New York media and Knicks fans are hitting panic buttons while the Celtics need to just win at home to force the do-or-die Game 7. All of a sudden some people are starting to wonder whether the Pacers or Hawks would be a better second round matchup.
“Let’s not go sucking each other’s d*cks just yet.”
“Our mentality has to be all out,” said Garnett. “It can’t be anything different than that. We’re down 3-2. The next game we lose is it. I don’t know what everybody’s talking about getting comfortable, feeling good. We’re down 3-2. It’s not like we evened it up and we’re going back home. No. We’re down 3-2. I don’t know what’s comfortable about it.”
If there’s one thing we’ve learned in this series, it’s that the millisecond the Celtics relax, the Knicks whip off a turnover-fueled 9-0 run. In the time it take for you to piss out that last Blue Moon, a Celtics lead is either gone, or whatever hole they’re in becomes a chasm.
The Celtics were read their last rites after Game 3. Game 4 proved that they still have a pulse. After Game 5, they’re starting to breathe on their own. But they’re still in critical condition, and any little slip could be the fatal blow to this vertigo-inducing season.
I think the guys in that locker room know full well what situation they’re in. They know they’re in a good position to make history, but they know they’re sitting at the edge of the end. We’ve been able to back off the messy topics of retirement and offseason moves for a little while, and we can be proud of a team that, despite losing so many guys have come back to make this series what it is.
But any celebratory thoughts should be put on hold, lest we become J.R. Smith’s and Kenyon Martin’s Boston equivalents. Let’s save that for Sunday afternoon, and hope the Celtics join us there after adding another chapter to their storied history.
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