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Why Eddie House Believes Game 2 Vs. Heat Is a Must-Win Matchup for Celtics

Why Eddie House believes Game 2 vs. Heat is a must-win for Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series and responded with a statement win in Game 2 before ultimately advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Should we expect a similar bounce-back from Boston in Thursday night's Game 2 against the Miami Heat at FTX Arena?

Forsberg: How will Celtics respond to embarrassing stretch vs. Heat?

The C's came out flying in the first half of Game 1, but they were outscored 39-14 in a lopsided third quarter that saw the Heat dominate in every way imaginable en route to a 118-107 win.

Is it fair to consider Game 2 must-win for the Celtics?

"For sure, it's a must win," former Celtics guard Eddie House said Wednesday night on NBC Sports Boston's "Early Edition".

"When you get to this point -- the Miami Heat are not going to beat themselves. If you give them a 2-0 (series) lead, with their coaching staff and the way they're playing and their defense, you don't want to fall that far behind. What you want to do is split (the first two games), and now you have home court advantage and take care of home court. If you get down 0-2, it's going to be tough.

"It's not like it can't be done; we've seen Dallas do it to the No. 1 seed Phoenix Suns (in the second round) and winning a Game 7 on the road. It can be done, but do you want to put yourself in that position? The answer is no."

The Celtics have been great at bouncing back after losses over the last couple months.

They're 10-1 with an average margin of victory of 15.8 points after their last 10 defeats, dating back to January 21. Boston is 3-0 after a loss in the 2022 playoffs so far. 

Going down 0-2 to the Heat and needing to beat them four times in five games to reach the NBA Finals would be an extraordinarily difficult task, especially with Game 5 and Game 7 in Miami.

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