Charles Barkley said there’s no excuse for this ’embarrassing’ TD Garden playoff stat
The Celtics are .500 at home over their last 20 playoff games.
By this point, it’s fair to say that neither the Celtics nor the Bruins have benefitted much from the playoff home-court advantages they built this season.
The Bruins got bounced in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and went 1-3 at home, dropping the decisive Game 7 at TD Garden.
The Celtics, who lost what Malcolm Brogdon called a “must-win” Game 5 on Tuesday night, have been a little better (but still not great) with a 3-3 home playoff record so far this postseason.
It’s been like this for a few years now. As noted by TNT, the Celtics have a .500 winning percentage (10-10) over their last 20 home playoff games. Charles Barkley called the number “disturbing” and “embarrassing.”
“Not only is that not a good stat, that’s shocking to me that a team with that many good players [loses at home that much]. In the last two to three years, they’ve been in the top one or two [teams] in the Eastern Conference … there’s no excuse for that.”
The Celtics got beat by double-digits on their home floor in Game 5, as Joel Embiid continued to round back into his MVP-winning form. The Celtics are down 3-2 and on the brink of elimination. Kenny Smith said he’s confident Game 6 won’t be similar to Game 5.
“You have games like this in series,” Smith said. “I think our job at times feels like we’re microwaving every game and talking about it, but when you’re in the mix and in the trenches, you’re baking. You’re like, this is a long process.”
Shaquille O’Neal said the lackluster performance was “just one of those games” where the Celtics didn’t come ready to play.
“Boston has been really good all year,” O’Neal said. “So I’m not going to say they quit or they weren’t focused or they weren’t concentrating. Sometimes you just have one of those games.”
Ernie Johnson pointed out that the Celtics had a similar letdown game against Atlanta in the first round. Barkley said such performances don’t bode well for the Celtics.
“It’s Game 5 in 2-2 series at home, and you come out and that game was not competitive,” Barkley said. “Even when it was close, you were like the Sixers are going to win this game. And then they get blown out … I’m not going to make excuses or take any blame, that was not a good look for the Celtics. Kenny said it’s only one game, that’s all it takes is one (more) game in the series and then the season’s over.”
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