Another loss would have been bad. Aggravation could turn into something much worse ... apathy.
And when the game between the Celtics and Pacers kicked off Friday night, it was trending toward that exact worse-case scenario, with Indiana jumping out to an early 12-2 lead. Making matters even more difficult to stomach was that Indiana's run was coming on the shoulders of the guy Danny Ainge pushed aside, Myles Turner.
But then life became palatable again for the Celtics and their fans.
When it was all said and done, Brad Stevens and Co. had come away with 118-112 win. Suddenly, the screaming subsided and at least a trickle of optimism entered back into the equation.
"We played closer to what we want," Stevens explained after the win. "But still let's back it up with.a bunch of games in a row playing that way."
It wasn't difficult to identify why the Celtics were able to right their ship. Kemba Walker had one of his best games of the season. Jeff Teague became the shot-in-the-arm off the bench he was signed to serve as. There was a willingness to actually use the adversity of the last few weeks to become an actual cohesive unit.
The most important factor in this win was undeniably the presence of Walker, whose production and leadership has bubbled up to No. 1 on the list of most important pieces of this puzzle.
The guard scored 32 points after getting a rest in the last game, making up for the less-than-stellar nights from the Celtics' Big 2 of Jayson Tatum (9 points) and Jaylen Brown (15 points). This can work, but not without Walker serving as that other go-to guy.
"Kemba helped will us to a win in a lot of ways," Stevens said. The coach added, "I don't think we win the game without his will tonight … I really thought he led us tonight."
Then there was Teague.
If the Celtics can get this version of the veteran it changes a lot. Stevens chose to go with a bench rotation that prioritized Payton Pritchard (9 points, 30 minutes), Robert Williams (14 points, 22 minutes) and Teague (14 points, 19 minutes). That was pretty much it.
"I was really happy for Jeff," said Stevens, who highlighted Teague's ability to create shots, something some of the other bench players simply don't do. "This hasn't been an easy transition for him."
As for the bench as a whole, the Celtics' coach noted, "We don't need that scoring every single night, but we need that kind of that way they played every single night."
There is still a lot to fix, and plenty of people to convince. But it was a start.
"It's good to get a win on a day that ends with Y," Stevens said. "I don't care how we did it."
