The Boston Celtics must now win consecutive games against the Golden State Warriors to leave the 2022 NBA Finals as champions. That's the bad news.
The good news? The Celtics have been here before.
Kind of.
Boston needed to climb out of 3-2 hole against the Milwaukee Bucks to emerge from Round 2. And though the semifinals are certainly not the Finals, the Celtics have not been so thoroughly outplayed by the Warriors that they're suddenly a hopeless cause.
On the contrary, with a few adjustments and improvements, they are eminently equipped to bag Game 6 and force a Game 7—if not win this series.