How Celtics Can Make Pro Sports History By Defeating Heat In Game 7 originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
BOSTON — Jaylen Brown declared the Boston Celtics a “team of destiny” after beating the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals.
If they get one more win, at least they’re a team from history.
The Celtics host the Heat in Game 7 at the TD Garden on Monday night despite losing the first three games of the series. They are only the fourth team in NBA history to force a Game 7 after falling 3-0 in a playoff series, and if they win Monday night they would succeed where 150 previous teams have failed to become the first NBA team ever to win a series from a 3-0 deficit.
The Celtics would also follow in the footsteps of the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who are one of only five teams in North American professional sports history to come back from a 3-0 deficit and win a best-of-seven playoff series .
Aside from the 2004 Red Sox, only four other teams have made comebacks from a 3-0 deficit, and all were NHL rosters. Here’s the full list, sorted by date:
It’s been nine years since a team has recovered from a 3-0 deficit and nearly two decades since a team has done so late in each respective playoff. So it’s fitting that the Celtics use the 2004 Red Sox as motivation: head coach Joe Mazzulla said before Game 7 that the coaching staff asked the team to watch a documentary about the Red Sox’s 2004 comeback – ESPN’s “Four Days in October”. after their overwhelming loss in Game 3.
Mazzula’s Celtics are in a unique position having entered the series as big favorites; Of the previous three NBA teams that forced Game 7s from a 3-0 deficit, all three had to play Game 7s away, while Boston will host the No. 8-seeded heat in front of a raucous TD Garden crowd.
A trip to the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets is at stake — as is the Celtics’ chance to combine destiny and history.
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