What head coach Brad Stevens and his Boston Celtics are doing right now is truly incredible. Boston lost star forward Gordon Hayward to a season-ending injury on opening night. They learned last month that star point guard Kyrie Irving would miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury. They didn’t have Jaylen Brown — their second-best scorer on the season — for Game 1 of their second-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
And all they do is keep winning.
The Celtics erased a 22-point deficit in a 108-103 Game 2 victory over the Sixers on Thursday night, to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
20-year-old rookie sensation Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston with 21 points, and scored 16 of those points in the second half.
Rozier races down the court and finds Tatum on the lob! pic.twitter.com/6QDF7hs4HU
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 4, 2018
Jayson Tatum to @NBAonTNT on 22-point deficit: "Story of our season. We've been down countless times. We've been down guys. But we have a 'never say die' mentality. We got the best fans. It's a long game. We knew the game was far from over, especially in the playoffs." #Celtics
— Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) May 4, 2018
The Celtics continue to overcome adversity and even shock the betting world. Boston was an underdog — even at home — in both games of this series, and are now 9-0 against the spread as a home underdog this season.
Boston as a HOME UNDERDOG this season:
Now a perfect 9-0 Against The Spread
(winning 8 of the games outright)#Celtics— RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) May 4, 2018
The series now heads to Philadelphia, where the 76ers should be treating games 3 and 4 as must-win. Yes, it’s still early in the series, and Philadelphia is the more talented team on paper. But Stevens’ Celtics squad is rolling, confident, and will be extremely difficult to beat at home. If the Sixers were to lose one of the next two games, they’d be forced to win twice in Boston to win the series.
Entering the season, a Cavs-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals matchup felt inevitable. Entering this playoff round, that matchup seemed very unlikely. But we may just get it after all.