MIAMI — As Robert Williams sat among a sea of media along the baseline of the Kaseya Center, hours before a do-or-die game for the Celtics, Al Horford walked off the court after a workout and looked at his teammate.
Horford had a smile on his face. He was brimming with confidence.
“I see you, Rob!” Horford yelled into the crowd. “We got it tonight! We got it tonight!”
Less than 48 hours before, the Celtics had been embarrassed. It looked like they had quit after a Game 3 loss that put them in an impossible 3-0 hole in these Eastern Conference Finals.
But they were still kicking.
“Don’t let us get one,” Marcus Smart said. “Just don’t let us get one.”
They got one.
The Celtics were laughed off the floor on Sunday night. They were trolled. The Heat took their pride, daring the Celtics to even return to the court where they were humiliated. But they didn’t lay down. Facing insurmountable odds, the Celtics roared back, using a second-half surge to take Game 4 with a 116-99 victory.
The Celtics aren’t dead just yet. Game 5 is on Thursday night in Boston.
The C’s responded to Game 3’s loss with a fight, but they didn’t always see the results. That is, until the third quarter, when the best version of the Celtics finally showed up. They got stops, they got in transition. Most importantly – to this team’s success – their 3-pointers finally started falling.
After making just nine in the first half, trailing by six at halftime and nine early in the third, the Celtics went on a game-changing 16-0 run, using strong defense and hot shooting to take control of the game. The Celtics made seven 3-pointers in the third quarter. They made 19 of 45 attempts in the game, the recipe for this team’s success.
The Celtics never looked back, though they took a punch from the Heat at the beginning of the fourth. Miami scored the first four points of the final period and the Celtics offense looked ineffective in the opening minutes without Jayson Tatum on the floor. The Heat cut the Celtics’ lead to five.
But then Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla called a perfectly-timed timeout. He inserted Tatum back in the game. He proceeded to make his first shot of the series in the fourth quarter, then Jaylen Brown’s dunk forced an Erik Spoelstra timeout.
The Celtics went up double digits, and unlike Games 1 and 2, they didn’t let up. Grant Williams stuffed Jimmy Butler on one play. The Celtics were relentless on both ends of the court, going up by as many as 18 as they ran away from the Heat and back on a plane to Boston, where they’ll continue to try to make history.
Other takeaways from the win:
– The Celtics needed a good effort from Horford, who had been a non-factor in the first three games of this series. The veteran big man was up for the challenge, nailing three of five 3-pointers in the first half in 13 minutes.
– Give the Celtics this much credit: They didn’t roll over in the first half like they did in Game 3.
After some strong opening minutes – when the Celtics started 4-for-4 – they regressed with some shoddy offensive execution. In three consecutive possessions, Brown was blocked, then Tatum committed two turnovers. The Heat raced out to a nine-point lead in the first after an 18-5 run, capped by Max Strus’ breakaway dunk and it looked like the hosts might run away and never look back like they did in Game 3.
But the Celtics responded with a big surge in the second quarter. The Heat finally started missing some shots, and the C’s went on an 18-5 run ended by a Grant Williams 3-pointer to retake the lead.
– The Celtics had 10 second-chance points on five offensive rebounds in the first half, which was a further indicator of the Celtics’ early energy.
– Where were you when Caleb Martin turned into Steph Curry in the Eastern Conference Finals? The guard was unconscious to start Game 4, hitting his first sic shots on his way to 14 points at halftime, as he helped turn the tide after Boston’s second-quarter run.
The Celtics lost their first-half lead with some self-inflicted wounds. They committed eight turnovers, and they racked up 13 fouls in the first half that helped the Heat get in the bonus. Jaylen Brown didn’t help matters either, fouling Gabe Vincent shooting a 3-pointer late in the first half in addition to missing two free throws on one of his trips to the line.
