This Celtics playoff run has been wildly unpredictable, with ebbs and flows, highs and lows and “yeses” and “nos.”

The one sample that’s held true all through is that it’s inevitable for everybody to overreact after every recreation. Anytime the Celtics win, it’s championship or bust. Once they lose, individuals act like their season is over. These are the foundations, and you need to stand tall sufficient to experience the emotional rollercoaster.

Every time panic has ensued, the Celtics have calmly offered a counterpunch to maintain their season alive. With Recreation 6 set for Thursday night time in Boston, there’s nonetheless time for the Celtics to place forth yet one more a Herculean effort, however the sand within the hourglass is shortly disappearing.

“Now our backs are towards the wall,” Al Horford stated. “And we now have to see what we’re fabricated from. The problem begins on Thursday.”

The dangerous information for the Celtics is that they’re up towards a Warriors staff with a collective killer intuition and a basketball murderer in Stephen Curry. The excellent news for Boston is that it’s been right here earlier than. Actually, simply two collection in the past, the Celtics rallied from a 3-2 deficit to outlast Milwaukee in seven video games and advance.

Everybody thought the Celtics have been completed after they dropped a heartbreaker in Recreation 5, however they responded to win two straight and knock out the defending champs. Can they reply from one other 3-2 gap? Solely time will inform, but it surely’s not out of the realm of chance.

In that Milwaukee collection, the groups went backwards and forwards within the first 4 video games and have been knotted at two apiece – identical to the Celtics have been towards Golden State. A Recreation 5 win over the Bucks would have put them in a super spot, however the Celtics made life unnecessarily tough as soon as once more by faltering within the clutch.

Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped 40 and Milwaukee outscored Boston, 33-21, within the fourth quarter to steal Recreation 5. That was seen as the start of the tip, but it surely was truly the start of one thing actually magical.

These Celtics are cussed. For some cause, they play their finest basketball when the chances are stacked towards them. It’s like when the youthful brother takes a lead within the yard and the older brother realizes he can’t fiddle anymore or the youthful brother will probably be in his ear yapping for months.

In Recreation 6 towards the Bucks, Jayson Tatum erupted for 46 on 17-of-32 taking pictures, Antetokounmpo had 44 and the Celtics stayed alive with a 108-95 win. Then got here “The Grant Williams Recreation,” when he outscored Antetokounmpo, 27-25, and willed the Celtics to a 109-81, series-clinching triumph.

The Finals have adopted a largely comparable trajectory, with one star participant dictating a lot of the motion however the function gamers typically figuring out the result simply as a lot if no more. Whereas Curry’s play is usually a barometer for a way the Warriors fare, it’s crucial that the Celtics maintain Golden State’s function gamers in test. If Curry explodes for 40-plus, that doesn’t imply the Warriors will robotically win.

Tatum might not drop 46 once more, however he might not need to. The Celtics have the depth and psychological fortitude to face up to an onslaught. They should re-establish themselves because the extra bodily staff, save their legs for the fourth quarter as a lot as they will and remind themselves that that is their final likelihood.

“Your religion gotta be at an all-time excessive,” Jaylen Brown stated. “We obtained to play as a staff. All season lengthy, it’s been us vs. all people.”

The Milwaukee collection proved coming from behind is feasible. Groups that go down 3-2 are ordinarily completed, however this Celtics staff is something however strange.

They’ve relished the underdog function all season. They’ve picked themselves up when every thing appears bleak. They’ve defied the chances time and time once more. A championship remains to be inside attain, and that begins in Recreation 6.

“We higher be assured,” Tatum stated. “We ain’t obtained to win two in sooner or later. We simply gotta win one recreation on Thursday. We’ve been on this state of affairs earlier than. It’s not over.”