Celtics need inspired rally
MIAMI — Blown out in Game 3, facing elimination in Game 4, tasked with engineering the sort of comeback that no team in their league has ever pulled off before.
This may sound familiar to Boston fans.
Yes, what the Red Sox did to the Yankees in 2004 was discussed around the Celtics on Monday. A day after a debacle in Miami to fall into a 3-0 deficit in these Eastern Conference finals — “embarrassing,” forward Jaylen Brown said — the Celtics will try to extend the series and at least delay a Heat celebration in Game 4 on Tuesday.
“We still believe we’re the better team,” Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon said Monday. “We have not played like it in any of the three games. But there is always a first.”
No NBA team has rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a series; it’s happened only once in Major League Baseball, when the Red Sox shook off a 19-8 drubbing in Game 3 to win four straight and top the Yankees in that 2004 AL championship series.
Of course, there had never been a No. 8 seed that won an NBA playoff game by 26 points, either — until the Heat rolled their way to a 128-102 cakewalk in Game 3. It led to All-Star Game MVP Jayson Tatum saying the Celtics need to show some pride, veteran big man Al Horford calling upon the team to stay together and first-year coach Joe Mazzulla taking the blame as speculation about his future only gets louder and louder.
“We didn’t play well at all,” Tatum said. “Obviously, by the score, it showed.”
Meanwhile, a Heat win Tuesday would send them to the NBA Finals for the seventh time since 2006 — and give the team more than a week to rest before the title series opens on June 1.
“We can expect just a great competitive game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Boston has great pride. They’ll bring it. And you want to embrace it. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself and think about anything else other than embracing the competition. This is what you want. You want to be in the Eastern Conference finals in a really competitive game with a chance to finish and close out.”
Thing is, that was also the thinking going into Game 3. After dropping the first two games at home, conventional wisdom would suggest that the Celtics would have arrived Sunday night loaded up for their best effort.
It wasn’t even close. The Celtics trailed by as many as 33 in Game 3 — the second-biggest deficit they faced this season. They trailed the Thunder by 37 on Jan. 3, who won 150-117. The Celtics responded from that defeat by winning their next nine games.
The Heat are trying to join the 1999 Knicks as the only No. 8 seeds to reach the NBA Finals, and they’re doing so after nearly missing the playoffs altogether.
They know the chance they have Tuesday. They watched the Celtics celebrate in front of Heat fans last year in Game 7 of the East finals. They have an opportunity to make the Celtics watch them celebrate this time around.
“We have a great opportunity ahead of us,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said.