BOSTON -- While Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens might be the most meticulously prepared coach in the NBA, his young team is essentially a bunch of procrastinating college kids who sometimes only seem motivated by an assignment's due date.

After dropping the first two games of an Eastern Conference first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, the Celtics responded with consecutive victories to make things interesting again. Tuesday's Game 5 loss in Atlanta put the Celtics on the verge of elimination, but Stevens expects his team's best basketball in Game 6 because of the position it's in.

"This team has been good and been resilient all year in that regard," said Stevens. "I’ve never questioned this group’s resiliency or willingness to stand up when times are tough or those type of things because they’ve been pretty good about that all year."

Celtics All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas suggested that it's simply the makeup of this young team to respond to adversity.

"I couldn’t pinpoint [why the team is resilient]," Thomas said. "It’s just the background that all these guys come from. We’ve always had a 'never back down' mentality. This group of teammates has always been counted out. They’ve always had that chip on their shoulders to prove everybody wrong. That’s just another stepping stone in everybody’s story."

ESPN's Basketball Power Index pegs the Celtics with a mere 20 percent chance at winning the series in seven games. But, playing at home at TD Garden for Thursday's Game 6, Boston has a 61 percent chance at sending things back to Atlanta. As ESPN Stats & Information noted, the Hawks have lost 10 straight playoff games in Boston.

The Celtics had a disastrous stretch in the middle quarters of Game 5 that put them in a 3-2 series hole, but Boston players are confident about bouncing back in Game 6.

"You have games like that. [Game 5 is] over," guard Marcus Smart said. "We’re coming back to our place and it’s time to fight."

Stevens and the team met to watch film Wednesday and the third-year coach said he won't overreact to Boston's Game 5 struggles when putting a plan in place for Game 6.

"I think you always start with a mountain load of information and your desire is to get it to basketball in its simplest form," Stevens said. "I’ve shared this quote with [reporters] before that my old boss at Butler [Todd Lickliter] used to quote [Abraham] Lincoln when he said, 'I apologize for the length of this letter, I didn’t have time to write a short one.' I think that’s a coach’s job, to try to make it as short, simple and sweet as possible and then let guys go out there and play a fast game with a clear mind, and that’s the bottom line. That’s my job and it’s what I’ll stay up thinking about doing. But the goal will just be to go out and do our stuff as well as we can.

Added Stevens: "Listen, there's not a person around that respects how good [the Hawks] are and how well-coached they are more than me. You anticipate that they're going to come out with a great sense of urgency and a great way about them, and execute whatever they're trying to do well with whoever is on the floor. And so, whether it's showing Isaiah a little more attention or playing small or whatever the case may be, whatever they decide to do, they're going to do it full-go and that's what makes it go. That's what makes it work, is that that's a connected group and a really well-coached group. And it's why we've had our hands full from the get-go. It's been a fun series to compete in and it's going to be a fun series to compete in [Thursday] night."
