MIAMI — The Celtics had a alternative of two paths to comply with after Sunday’s embarrassing Game 3 loss put them in a gap that no staff in NBA historical past has ever overcome in 150 tries. They may have given in to what appeared inevitable, or fought for his or her lives.
They selected the latter. And after trying so misplaced and so disconnected in a Game 3 loss, the Celtics got here collectively on Tuesday night time.
In order to take action, that they had to verify they had been on the identical web page. After their convincing 116-99 victory in Game 4 on Tuesday night time, Jaylen Brown revealed the Celtics “galvanized” collectively the night time earlier than. But the Celtics star didn’t say precisely what transpired.
“Just all together,” Brown mentioned. “Don’t got to share no details, just we all together at some point during the day yesterday, we was all together as a team, and we wanted to come out and do what we did tonight.”
But 24 hours after a humiliating defeat threatened to all of the sudden finish the Celtics’ championship desires and ship them right into a summer time filled with questions in regards to the franchise’s future, the assembly of galvanization – nevertheless it got here to be and no matter it entailed – was essential.
“Just coming together, talking it out, and like a lot of times when you get to this point down 3-0, you see locker rooms and teams start to go in the other direction,” Brown mentioned. “We need to ensure that we stayed collectively. We wished to ensure that we seemed one another within the eye and got here out as we speak and put our greatest foot ahead, and I’m happy with our group for doing that since you see groups with their again towards the wall and also you see they simply collapse.
“You didn’t see that tonight. You seen us come together, play defense, make the right plays, and I feel like that shows a lot about our character, especially in a game where everything is on the line and everything has went wrong in the last couple of games.”
The Celtics had been definitely embarrassed by what occurred on Sunday, however within the hours after, they had been upbeat for a staff that was on the point of elimination. They questioned their id and had been surprised by how this run had gone south in such a rush, however they maintained confidence of their capability.
“We still believe we’re the better team,” Malcolm Brogdon mentioned Monday. “We have not played like it in these three games.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla noticed a gaggle prepared for this second.
“Just the connection and togetherness and awareness and perspective, understanding the situation that we’re in, and you don’t really have a choice,” Mazzulla mentioned. “It’s do or die. Got to stick together.”
On Tuesday, the Celtics didn’t seem like a gaggle in panic or fear. Certainly their place was distinctive and daunting, however as younger as they’re, they’ve been on this stage for years. Al Horford, after a protracted 3-point exercise throughout shootaround, interrupted teammate Robert Williams’ media session as he walked off the courtroom.
“We got it tonight! We got it tonight!” Horford yelled out for everybody to listen to. Then Brown and Marcus Smart repeated the strains famously mentioned by Kevin Millar earlier than the Red Sox made their historic comeback in 2004: “Don’t let us win tonight.”
The Celtics had been unfastened. They had been assured. They appear to function the very best when their backs are towards the wall. They did that on Tuesday, and so they stayed collectively by means of all of it, even because it practically slipped away.
“Everybody was in good spirits, everybody was upbeat, and as cliché as it sounds, we just tried to take it one game at a time,” Tatum mentioned. “We tried to break it down. We didn’t play well the first three games, we didn’t deserve to win, but we didn’t want that to define us, define the season. We’ve still got a long uphill battle to go. But tonight was a good start. Just to try to carry this momentum towards Thursday.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com