Brett Brown Hired Mentalist to Entertain 76ers Before Game 5 Win over Celtics

The Philadelphia 76ers' game plan to defeat the Boston Celtics in Game 5 apparently includes a mentalist.

Coach Brett Brown invited a mentalist to perform card tricks and do "mind-reading exercises" as the team ate dinner Tuesday night, per Ian Begley of ESPN.com.

"He does some pretty incredible stuff," point guard T.J. McConnell said. "... It was just fun. Brett does a good job of that, not having a real businesslike dinner. It was more calm and funny."

The Sixers and Brown will hope the mentalist's "powers" infuse some magic into the squad, which enters Wednesday's Game 5 in a 3-1 hole after winning Game 4. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the NBA playoffs.

According to Sixers players, the guest went beyond random platitudes and correctly guessed the names of some ex-girlfriends. (It's, of course, very possible this "mentalist" used Google before his gig.)

"I'm a skeptic," shooting guard JJ Redick said, though he added: "The [tricks] are all good. He was fun."

Fun fact: CBS had a show called The Mentalist that ran for seven seasons. No word on whether the Sixers' mentalist was the dude who played The Mentalist.