‘Absolutely terrible’: Boston fans sound off after Celtics fall flat in pivotal Game 5

BOSTON — It’s now or never for the Celtics.

They’re waking Wednesday morning on the brink of playoff elimination after a disappointing performance in Game 5 against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night.

The Celtics trailed nearly the entire game, only holding a lead for part of the first quarter. Boston lost the game 115 -103.

It was a stunningly poor performance in a pivotal game in the minds of Celtics fans Ali McGann and Tim McGann.

“Absolutely terrible,” said Ali McGann, who brought her father to the game as an early Father’s Day present.

“Philly came ready to play, I don’t think the Celtics were ready to match their intensity,” said Tim McGann. “Philly hit their shots, Celtics didn’t.”

Fans said the big problem was that the Celtics never got anything going, so the crowd here at the Garden never really got into it and a lot of them walked out disappointed.

“It was awful, shooting was awful, couldn’t stop Embiid, what can I say, can’t get much worse than this,” said Jeroen, a Celtics fan.

“It was a huge disappointment because we know they can do much better,” said Scott Drapeau of Arlington. “It was a big disappointment but we’re looking forward to the next game and see what happens.

This game five felt like a must-win for the Celtics and now they find themselves in familiar territory and a place they don’t want to be in.

“Got to have a short-term memory,” said Jaylen Brown. “We dropped the ball, couldn’t say in front of nobody, couldn’t get a stop when we needed to, missed a lot of wide-open shots, gave everything that they wanted us to give up. That was the story of the game.”

Last year in the playoffs, the Celtics also lost a game five in Boston falling behind 3-2 against the Milwaukee Bucks. They were able to win the final two games in that series to move on. And the players hope to do the same following last night’s loss.

“We’ve been in this position before regardless we were going to have to go back to Philly anyway,” said Jayson Tatum. “Now it’s just a little bit tougher but it’s nothing that we can’t do and everybody believes that. We’ve got a big game on Thursday.

The C’s are looking ahead to game six in Philadelphia tomorrow night. That one for sure---is a must-win, or their season is over.

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