NBA finals 2024 Game 5: Dallas Mavericks v Boston Celtics – live

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Preamble

Anyone else just have a feeling we may be on the verge of seeing history?

Coming back from an 0-3 series deficit doesn’t happen in the NBA. Literally.

But after Dallas routed Boston in Game 4, trepidation amongst the most superstitious fan base in the US is surely rising.

Perhaps it’s just the circles in which I run, but the Celtics fans I know seem to be demanding rather than cheering. And they’re demanding it from a team that was outplayed in Game 4 – and, perhaps more disturbingly, outcoached. Joe Mazzulla simply had no answers for all the wrinkles Jason Kidd threw at him, relying instead on his iron eight-man rotation to save the day even though they were physically overmatched.

So are we going to see a self-fulfilling prophecy? If enough people say the Celtics are bound to blow it, will they?

Or does the series end tonight?

Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Kyrie Irving on returning to the Garden:

“Now being older with hindsight looking back, I definitely would have taken time to know the people in the community and talked to some of the champions that have come before me,” Irving told reporters on Sunday. “They have championship pedigree here ... They expect you to seamlessly buy into the Celtics’ pride, buy into everything Celtics.

“And if you don’t, then you’ll be outed. I’m one of the people that’s on the outs. I’m perfectly fine with that, you know what I mean. I did it to myself.”

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