Pressure is Back on the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics know they have to improve their performance from a terrible time in Washington

After winning the first two games at home, the Boston Celtics were in firm control of the series. That being said, the Washington Wizards have been a completely different team at home all season long, and the Celtics were giving up runs in those first wins that would not be acceptable away from home.

Turns out when you give up 20+ point runs in back to back games it becomes impossible to win, especially when you are playing on the road. Home court has held strong, and the Wizards are heading back to Boston with all the momentum after two blowout victories.

All this has amounted to is a three game series, with two games left to be played in Boston. The Celtics can still feel comfortable about where they are, but they know the pressure is now on them to win.

Losing just one game at home would have put the Wizards in a near insurmountable hole. They had two must win games to preserve the series, and they handled that pressure with no problem at all.

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Now the Celtics find themselves in a similar position. After those two performances, it would be foolish to expect a win in Washington, and that means one home loss could send them packing. The Celtics are also the ones who have given up some of the most debilitating runs we have ever seen. The problems the Celtics had in games three and four were more damaging than the problems of the Wizards in games one and two, and the Celtics know they have things that need to be fixed.

The Celtics know that they still have a problem with their starting lineup, they still have a problem with missing wide open shots and they still have this absurd problem where every player decides that they will do everything miserably all at the same time. These runs are not about a couple players dragging them down, it is about every player missing every shot or putting the ball right into the hands of the best transition player in the NBA

The Celtics can go back home thinking that they can still dictate this series, but a bad game on their part will be more difficult to overcome than a bad game from the Wizards. When the Celtics are playing bad, it feeds right into the biggest strength of the Wizards.

Whether it is missed shots or turnovers, John Wall has put on a transition clinic. The Celtics cannot stay with him when they do not get a chance to set their defense. It is a lot easier to reconcile how a 26-0 run can actually happen in an NBA game when you realize the Celtics had nine turnovers result directly to 21 points in under three minutes.

The moment the Celtics descend into the depth of their turnover troubles, the Wizards run away with the game faster than the Celtics have seen at any point this year. The inconsistent play is nothing new, but the Wizards are punishing the Celtics worse than anyone else for the offensive lulls that happen in every game.

The silver lining is that the Celtics know that if they play well, If they start hitting just some of their open shots, and stop turning it over nine times in less than three minutes, then they will dictate the results of the game.

A lot of people predicted that this would be a seven game series where the home team wins every time, and no opinions on that would have changed after four games. What has changed is the momentum, and the vomit inducing memories of the kind of runs that you wouldn’t even expect in a high school game.

After four games the only extra negative that the Celtics have endured is that their loses have been as bad as a playoff loss can be, and that is where the pressure is coming from. After those last two games, home court is nowhere near enough. The Celtics know that this is more than just a few bounces or some favorable calls. The pressure is on the Celtics because they are the ones who need to to improve their play, while the Wizards will be waiting for the Celtics to get into one of those slumps that have obliterated both of these last two games.

The pressure is on the Celtics, but that is not something to be too worried about. The Celtics have been inconsistent and have given up runs like this all season long. The Celtics have experienced a lot of lows this season, and they can feel more than confident that they can bounce back from any deficit.

In fact, as bad as that 26-0 for a second straight loss is, nothing can approach the depths of despair they entered after dropping the second straight game to the Bulls. It has to be reassuring that if the Celtics can bounce back from that, they can bounce back from anything.

The Celtics know they can bounce back and play better because they have done it time and time again. This time, however, it will be a lot harder. The Celtics now realize what kind of margin of error they can have before the Wizards blow them out of the water.

As it should be in the playoffs, the stakes are higher and the standards are harder, but the Celtics do not need to do anything that they have not already proven. Whoever gets out of this series will be going against the Cleveland Cavaliers knowing in the back of their minds that they need to reach a level that they have not accomplished yet this season. For the Celtics to beat the Wizards, all they have to do is get back to playing sound basketball.

The Celtics do not need to start hitting every shot, they just need to hit the easiest ones. The Celtics do not need to have a perfect passing game with 35 assists, they just need to control the ball and make sure they eliminate the unforced errors.

Next: Celtics Find Themselves Tied at 2-2

The Celtics have shot themselves in the foot in both these games and the Wizards have dug into that wound and mangled the limb to the point of being unidentifiable. If the Celtics avoid these mistakes that are hurting themselves it will not be an easy series, but the Celtics will be able to control the games the way they need to in order to win.