MIAMI (AP) — After being crushed in Game 3 and facing possible elimination in Game 4, the Celtics are tasked with executing the kind of somersault that no other NBA team has managed.
This scenario sounds familiar to sports fans in Boston.
Yes, in the Celtics locker room they even mentioned the feat of the Red Sox against the New York Yankees in 2004 on Monday. One day after the debacle in Miami to fall to 0-3 in the Eastern Conference finals — which Boston forward Jaylen Brown called “embarrassing” — the Celtics will try to extend the series and at least delay the Heat’s celebration. on Tuesday in game 4.
“We still think we’re the better team,” Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon said Monday. “We haven’t played the way we want in these three games. But there is always a first time.
No NBA team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. It’s only happened once in MLB when the Red Sox rallied from a 19-8 loss in Game 3 to win four in a row against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS.
Of course, no team that came in as the eighth seed has won a game by more than 26 points — until Miami crushed Boston 128-102 in Game 3. This result led Jayson Tatum to assert that the Celtics need to show the pride, Al Horford to ask the team to stick together and coach Joe Mazzulla to take the blame amid speculation about his future.
“We didn’t play well at all,” Mazzulla admitted. “Obviously the scoreboard reflected that.”
But a Miami win on Tuesday will send the Heat to their seventh NBA Finals since 2006 — and give them more than a week before the title series begins on June 1.
UPDATE
Heat forward Kevin Love has a strained left leg muscle and is questionable for Game 4. He was injured in the first period of Game 3. “It felt like a cramp,” Love said.
WELL RESTED
Jimmy Butler is well rested after playing just 31 minutes in Game 3 after averaging 42 minutes in his last nine postseason appearances.
2023-05-22 23:33:16
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