After getting crushed in Game 3 and facing possible elimination in Game 4, the Celtics are tasked with pulling off a turnaround the likes of which no other NBA team has accomplished.
The scenario sounds familiar to sports fans in Boston.
Yes, he also mentioned the Red Sox accomplishment in 2004 against the New York Yankees on Monday in the Celtics locker room. A day after losing 0-3 in the Eastern Conference Finals to Miami — which Boston forward Jaylen Brown called “embarrassing” — the Celtics will look to extend the series and at least delay the Heat’s celebrations. In Game 4 on Tuesday.
“We still think we’re the better team,” Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon said Monday. He said, ‘In these three matches we did not play the way we wanted. But there is always a first time.
No NBA team has ever come back from a 3–0 deficit to win a series. This has happened the only time in MLB since the Red Sox won four games in a row against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS after a 19–8 loss in Game 3.
Of course, no team coming in as the eighth seed has won a game by more than 26 points—until Miami crushed Boston, 128-102, in Game 3. The result prompted Jayson Tatum to claim that the Celtics needed to show pride, Al Horford to call on the team to stick together and coach Joe Mazzulla to take the blame amid speculation about his future. Said.
“We didn’t play well at all,” Mazzulla admitted. “Obviously the scoreboard reflected that.”
But a Miami victory on Tuesday would send the Heat to their seventh NBA Finals since 2006 — and give them more than a week to go before the title series begins on June 1.
Updates
Heat forward Kevin Love has a left hamstring strain 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 only 31 minutes in Game 3, after averaging 42 minutes over his previous nine postseason starts.
