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NBA Playoffs 2012: Celtics Will Win Series Despite Game 2 Loss at Home

Jesse Reed

The Boston Celtics lost Game 2 of their series against the Philadelphia 76ers at home, but you can still count on them on to win the series in spite of losing home-court advantage.

The main features of this ugly game were the incredible amount of turnovers by both clubs—they combined for 33 turnovers in the game—and a potentially costly injury to Avery Bradley, who separated his shoulder in the second quarter.

Here are a few reasons why you should believe me when I tell you the Celtics will overcome their loss at home.

Veteran Leadership

Some have suggested that the Celtics are too old to make a serious run at this year's title. 

I take a different approach.

The Celtics have one of the most experienced playoff lineups of any team left in the postseason, save possibly the San Antonio Spurs. This experience gives them a leg up against the young, inexperienced 76ers.

There is no way they are sitting in their locker rooms looking at one another, wondering how they will crawl out of a hole. They have been in too many battles to start panicking after one lousy performance.

Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen—not to mention Rajon Rondo—won't allow themselves the luxury of pouting and moping. Instead, they will put their nose back to the grindstone, forget about the past and fix what they did wrong for the next matchup in Philly.

Paul Pierce Won't Struggle Like That Again

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Pierce's line for the night: two out of nine from the floor. He only got to the free-throw line one time, drilling both attempts. 

He won't have another night like this in the entire playoffs.

Pierce is a playoff warrior. Some of his best performances of all time have come when the pressure was on, and he isn't finished putting together big-time games for the Celtics.

Pierce also turned the ball over five times, an abnormally high number for him.

I don't want people thinking I'm not giving the 76ers any credit for doing a fantastic job of pressuring him into making mistakes and putting up bad shots—they did. That being said, Pierce is far too good to be held down like this for too long, and I expect to see him light it up on the road in Game 3.

The Celtics Will Shoot Better Than 41.8 Percent the Rest of the Way

The bottom line for Game 2: The Celtics had a terrible shooting night, hitting only 41.8 percent of their shots.

According to ESPN.com, during the regular season, Boston hit 46 percent of their shots from the floor, and even if don't quite hit that number the rest of the way during their series with the 76ers they will do better than they did in Game 2.

One terrible night doesn't equate a lost series, and the Celtics are experienced enough to know this. They are going to get plenty of shots in from now until Game 3 on May 16, and I guarantee they will do better the next time around.

   

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