Celtics explain what Game 4 did for them. And ESPN debates chances of Heat blowing series
In winning Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday, the Celtics kept their season alive and also kept alive the possibility of making history and becoming the first NBA team to rally from an 0-3 deficit to win a series.
None of the 150 teams down 0-3 has come back to win an NBA best-of-7 series. Only three of the 150 have even forced a Game 7.
For Boston, there were no grand pronouncements after its 116-99 win that left them down 3-1 headed home for Game 5 on Thursday (8:30 p.m., TNT). Instead, there was talk of a locker room that remains together, after a group outing to Top Golf on Monday.
“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,” Celtics guard Jaylen Brown said. “We want to make sure that we stayed together.
“I’m proud of our group for doing that because you see teams with their back against the wall and you see they just collapse. You saw us come together, play defense, make the right plays, and I feel like that shows a lot about our character. We want to come back to Miami [for a Game 6 on Saturday]. If that happens, I feel like we’ll feel good about ourselves. The next one should be fun.”
The recipe for Boston’s win wasn’t complicated: Nine for 20 three-point shooting in the second half, dominance from Jayson Tatum (who scored 25 of his 33 after halftime) and a defense that limited Miami to 25 percent shooting on threes for the game (8 for 32) and 35 percent shooting overall from the field in the second half.
“This isn’t really a group that panics, gets too high or too low, which I think has really benefited us,” Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon said. “It’s a resilient group. Unfortunately, we’re best when our backs are against the wall, but that will work in our favor the rest of the series.”
Beyond Boston displaying more mental toughness than it had previously in the series, the result also was a byproduct of the Celtics shooting 40 percent on threes after shooting 29.2 percent in the first three games.
“We saw a couple go in and we started to play free,” said Tatum, who shot 11 for 15 from the field and 3 for 5 on threes in his 25-point second half.
“Obviously, shots were falling, but I think we were just playing the right way. We were getting stops and moving the ball. 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 our season. We still have a long uphill battle to go. But [this] was a good start.”
Another big key: After committing 53 turnovers in the first 3 1/2 games of the series, Boston committed just two in the second half on Tuesday, compared with nine for Miami.
Brown said: “It’s been taking us a little while to figure out” how to deal with the Heat’s defense because “the way they play zone, the way they try to hide matchups, they try to make sure they keep their primary defenders up higher and try to hide their lesser defenders… They’re not guarding us normally… Offensively we took our time a little bit more.”
Celtics guard Marcus Smart put it this way: “Even when we were down, we continuously believed in each other, and that’s what we’ve got to continue to do. We understand the odds are stacked against us.”
The Celtics did two cable television networks a favor, by giving TNT another game of advertising revenue and providing ESPN with a topic to fill several studio programs for the next 48 hours: Can the Celtics become the first team to win a series after trailing 0-3?
ESPN’s “Get Up” host, Mike Greenberg, said he expects Boston to make history, and ESPN’s analytics department — which said the Celtics had a 97 percent chance to win the series before it started — now gives them a 46 percent chance to win it.
“The Celtics should win every single game; they’re just better,” Greenberg said, praising Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and Jimmy Butler but adding that Miami uses “players who wouldn’t even be in the rotation on most good teams in the NBA.”
“Boston has the best chance in history to come back from 0-3,” ESPN’s Zach Lowe said.
But former NBA guard JJ Redick suggested both Greenberg and ESPN’s analytics department are overestimating Boston’s chances.
“It’s not a 46 percent chance [but] it’s higher than zero,” Redick said. “I just don’t agree with this notion that [the Celtics] are just a vastly superior team. We should not be surprised that [Miami] is up 3-1. ... [Boston is] a Max Strus, Jimmy Butler 45-point game from going home.”
Meawhile, TNT’s Charles Barkley predicted the Celtics will blow out the Heat in Game 5.
THIS AND THAT
Heat point guards Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry appeared in discomfort at different points of Game 4, Vincent because of a sprained left ankle and Lowry for a reason that he did not disclose.
The Heat listed Vincent as questionable for Game 5. He’s doing all he can to try to play; a decision will be made Thursday.
Vincent said he didn’t feel much pain in the ankle after the game: “I came in here and saw Marcus Smart hit a three, finished taping it and ran back out there” in the fourth quarter.
Lowry - who said afterward “I’m good” - isn’t on the injury report for Game 5.
▪ The Heat was outscored by 23 points in the second half (66-43), which was the thirst-worst second half scoring margin in franchise playoff history.
▪ Caleb Martin’s 18.5 scoring average is the second-highest scoring average by a Heat bench player in a single series in franchise history, behind Tyler Herro’s 19.2 against Boston in the Orlando bubble.
This story was originally published May 24, 2023 at 11:58 AM.
