The Boston Celtics find themselves in a precarious position heading into Game 3 of their first-round series with the Chicago Bulls. After dropping two straight games to open the series, they now have to dig themselves out of a giant hole to make the rest of the games competitive.Much was made of their home court advantage and number one seed in the Eastern Conference when they managed to wrestle it away from LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.Now, that advantage is basically moot as they will have to scrap for their playoff lives in The Windy City.Charles Barkley has been critical of Boston’s mindset during this series and that may be because he knows firsthand how hard digging out of a 2-0 hole can be. His Phoenix Suns were the last number one seed to lose two games to an eight seed.That series happened so long ago that the first round was a best-of-five series back then, as opposed to a best-of-seven now. Phoenix came all the way back and eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers after taking three straight victories.Celtics players might want to go find tape of that series if it exists because it might serve as some motivation for them in a trying time. Coming back is a bit easier now that there is one more game required to advance, but two games on the road will be hard to win in order to retake home court.

Until now there have been 18 other instances where teams have trailed 0-2 in a series and come back to win afterward. Michael Jordan’s Bulls did it in 1993 en route to his third straight championship.

Dwyane Wade has done it in the Finals to lead his team back and claim his first ring against Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. LeBron James just did it last year to bring Cleveland its first trophy in 52 years against the Golden State Warriors.

There is hope in these situations, unfortunately it took superhuman efforts from star players to help right the ship in each of these examples. Isaiah Thomas will need to shift into a gear that we haven't seen before in order to match history.

Boston has spent the entire season beating their chests and telling everyone that they deserve the number one seed in the East. This will be the perfect opportunity to not only solidify that claim, but to quiet a number of their remaining doubters with a truly epic feat.