If we somehow manage to lose by 10 or less then I won't count us totally out of it yet. But like I said earlier, 15 points or more for the loss and this is going to be 4-5 games.
How does a 5 point difference change anything? Losing by 30 tells me no more than if we lost by 10. A loss is a loss and teams have come back from blowouts before. In 2005 we killed indiana in game one and lost in 7. The celts were massacred by the lake show in 84 and came back and one the series. A blowout does not mean anything! So we lose and comeback and win next game. What does that tell you?
It's the momentum and the psychology of it. The Celtics have been through too much and are emotionally and physically exhausted. Our two best players are in their early 30s and have been playing more than 40 minutes a night in the last 7 games. If we get blown out tonight - and by blowout I mean 15+ - then our team is not going to be in a good position to win more than maybe 1 game. Maybe 2 if we really dig deep down. But one thing's for sure, home court advantage was the one edge we had coming into this series, and we're about to lose it, barring a horrible breakdown by the Magic.
There is no basis for your argument. Margin of victory means nothing. The Celtics won game 2 against the bulls and then ran away with game 3. Under your rationale, they should have lost game 3 because the bulls didn't get blown out. Also, they should have run away with the series after game 3 because they killed them. We all know that didn't happen.
No team will let a 5 point difference change anything, especially this Celtics team. I don't know how much basketball you have watched in your life but you should know that a butt whooping is a but whooping and nothing else. If the Celts get swept its because they cant match up, not because they lost by 15 and not 10. Scrub time can easily account from anywhere to a 5 to 10 point difference in the final score.