Joe Mazzulla warned the Boston Celtics that the confidence garnered from taking a 2-0 series lead against the Indiana Pacers is not enough to secure progress. (More Basketball News)
The Celtics won 126-110 on Thursday to move two games ahead in thei🍎r Eastern Conference finals series against the Pacers.
Indiana 🦄were also dealt a blow when star player Tyrese Haliburton suffered a hamstring injury, w🃏hich the Pacers will wait agonisingly on.
Yet with the Pacers having overturned a deficit to overcome the New York Knicks in the last round, Celtics coach Mazzulla knows the job is nowhere near do♑ne.
"The only tꦡhing we should be thinking about is, they were down 2-0 a series Tago and brought it༺ to Game 7," Mazzulla said.
"They do a great ꦆjob protecting their home court. They're undefeated at home. It's going to take a lot more than confidence to get the job done.
"We have to focus on the details and the execution and the mindset, the things that go into playing aga♐inst a team like this at homeဣ.
"I know they're g❀oing to respond so it's up to 🔯us to do the same."
Jayl♒en Brown starred again for the Celtics, finishing🙈 with 40 points on the day he missed out on an All-NBA selection.
"We're two games fro﷽m the Finaܫls," he said when asked about that snub. "So, honestly, I don't have the time to give a f***."
Indiana, meanwhile, face the prospect of having to fight back against t⭕he NBA's best team without their key pla☂yer.
"He does so many things for our team," T.J McConnell ꧅said of Haliburton.
"I think everyone has to move the ball more, get in the paint more. The ball movement has to be at another level. He gets 10 assists in his sleep, so it's hard f𒊎or another person on our team to replicate that. It's a group effort when he goes down."
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle added: "We'll know more [on Friday] and𝓀 then probably more Saturday."
