In NBA history, in a seven game series the team that has won game five coming off an even series with two games apiece has moved on to win 83.3 percent of those series. So it seems that at first the Boston Celtics have the odds and the statistics on their side to win the series. Particularly considering that if it comes down to it, the Boston Celtics would close game 7 at home. Then again, as of press time, for Wednesday game at Philadelphia, the 76ers are a 2-point favorite in the NBA betting spread. But then again, despite the spread and despite playing on the road, on game 5, when the Celtics took a convincing 101-85 win at the Garden, they looked as dominant as you could want this veteran squad to be. The Celtics usually rely on their Big Four to deliver at home, but this time, it was not Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen or Rajon Rondo, who would be taking the marquee. But not this time, the Celtics fans were going to be surprised by one of their own. And the timing couldn’t had been better ufabet.
At no point in his first season with the Boston Celtics had Brandon Bass showed that he could be part of the Celtics All-Star Fantastic Four. I mean, he had been a solid performer and was the regular 5th man in the Celtics starting lineup. Little did we know that after leading the Celtics with 27 points and 6 rebounds in his latest Playoffs game, the 27-year-old power forward had that in him. It was certainly quite a relief for Doc Rivers to have another player chipping in. Let’s try to put Bass’ performance into some perspective here. Consider for a moment that his 27 points matched Bass’ regular-season career high, and the 18 points in the third quarter was one point away from his career playoff high for an entire game. Now, this last fact is just gold: Brandon Bass’ 18 point in the third was also more than the Sixers scored in the quarter as a team. Now, the big question is, now that he has found the rhythm and has found confidence in his game, is he going to be able to repeat this kind of play in the next few games?
Kevin Garnett added 20 points for the Celtics while Rajon Rondo had 13 points and 14 assists for the Celtics. Ray Allen finished the game with 5 points and 2 rebounds. He has been struggling with his shooting and that is certainly affecting the overall performance from the Celtics, particularly from the three-point range. Paul Pierce had 16 points and had a perfect 9 for 9 night from the free throw line. The Philadelphia 76ers head coach is prepping his guys. He wants them to believe that there is still a chance they can turn this one around and win two consecutive games against the Celtics. “We have that same opportunity,” Collins said in a press conference after practice. “Let’s give ourselves that chance. Let’s get ourselves back to Boston with a Game 7 and see what we can do. Sometimes, I think it’s good to go back and let guys see the history of the franchise with Boston and Philly.”
