Soooo…Just How Worried Should Boston Celtics Fans be Right Now???

The Boston Celtics opened their second-round series at home against the Knicks and dropped two in a row. On The Rich Eisen Show, Chris Brockman, the resident Celtics fan, was asked the question every Boston backer has been dodging.

How worried should he be?

Chris did not pretend.

"Yes, I'm worried."

His read is that this Boston roster was never actually built for a deep playoff run. It was supposed to be a gap year. The front office, he said, would have been comfortable missing the playoffs entirely given the depth of the upcoming draft. Instead the Celtics are still favorites to win the East and still living and dying with the three-point line.

Last night they missed 27 threes and nine free throws, then lost by double digits as a double-digit favorite. Jaylen Brown is struggling. Derrick White has been terrible in the series. The shot profile, Chris explained, is the whole personality of the team. Make them and you blow people out. Miss them and you get what you get.

Chris floated one thin silver lining. This Celtics team has actually played better on the road, which means a trip to Madison Square Garden, or rather to Philadelphia, may suit them.

The conversation pivoted to TJ Jefferson, the Sixers fan who walked into the playoffs hoping for one game and now finds himself with two. TJ admitted he did not want hope. Hope is dangerous. Hope sets you up to get your heart broken.

Then he tried to articulate what fans of the sport actually lost when Joel Embiid's knees gave out.

"If you truly love basketball, we were robbed of a healthy Joel Embiid. The dude's skill set is unmatched for a man of his size."

TJ said watching Embiid last night, unable to jump, was painful. The athleticism is gone. The game is still there in flashes. The question is whether he can do it back to back.

Rich agreed Embiid's MVP season probably should have come with two trophies, with him and Nikola Jokic effectively swapping years. What they saw last night was the Toby Keith line. Not as good as he once was, but as good once as he ever was.

The panel then moved to the rest of the bracket. The Knicks, Rich noted, look great. They could have stolen both games in Atlanta. The two losses they have on the road in this postseason were each by a single point. New York may end up the only Eastern Conference team in the first round to advance with home court.

Out west, Kevin Durant is out tonight. Luka Doncic may not be back for round two. Austin Reaves goes for the Lakers. The downtown hoops dojo, as Rich called it, is hosting a fight.

The show closed on the celebrity row arms race. New York has overtaken Los Angeles. Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Timothee Chalamet and Ben Stiller were sitting courtside last night. The crew wondered if Jack Nicholson, who just turned 89, might save his one appearance for the second round.