THE Boston Celtics have come one game away from making history, earning themselves a chance to beat the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals despite falling 3-0 down earlier in the series.
All of the previous 150 attempts to overcome a deficit this big were unsuccessful prior to the 2022-23 NBA seasons — and yet the Celtics could approach Game 7 with a sizable dose of optimism.
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The sole fact the Celtics made it a seven-game series speaks volumes.
The Heat became only the fourth NBA team ever to have let their opponents tie a postseason series after taking a 3-0 lead — ruining their fan’s wedding along the way.
And Miami couldn’t have tripped up against a more inopportune rival.
Over the course of their 76-year history, the Celtics have proven to be experts at winning Game 7s.
Boston has both played the most seven-game series of all NBA teams (36) and claimed the most victories (27) in winner-takes-it-all matchups.
In part, those numbers come from the fact the C’s are one of the oldest NBA franchises.
However, the C’s also have the all-time highest winning percentage in Game 7s (.750) among teams that have appeared in more than one of such clashes.
The current Celtics generation has proven to be particularly strong-willed with their stars typically delivering a win when a playoff series go the distance.
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Since the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown duo arrived at TD Garden, Boston has gone 5-1 in Game 7s.
That one loss, taking place in the 2018 NBA Playoffs, hardly brought any shame on the two Js and Co.
The C’s fell 87-79 to the Cleveland Cavaliers with the great LeBron James on the roster — in the Eastern Conference Finals, no less.
The Celtics bounced back with four straight Game 7 wins, one of which came against the Heat last year.
Interestingly, that clash came at the same stage in the postseason.
And in a spooky coincidence, it occurred on May 29 — meaning they would decide the second 2023 Finals spot exactly one year to date from their last Game 7 conference finals clash.
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