The Celtics made things harder on themselves Friday night — particularly in the fourth quarter — in Game 4 against the Warriors.
Boston controlled much of its game against Golden State and looked poised to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. But a fourth-quarter collapse led to the 107-97 loss after Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart lobbed up a bunch of missed 3-point shots rather than attack the rim and get the easy two.
Now the Celtics and Warriors are tied 2-2 as the NBA Finals shifts back to the Bay Area.
After the game, Tatum spoke about the Celtics making games harder than they need to be rather than playing in a more simple manner.
“We don’t do this (expletive) on purpose. I promise you, we don’t,” Tatum told reporters, as transcribed by ASAP Sports. “We trying as hard as we can. There’s certain things we got to clean up. Obviously turnovers, movement on the offensive end. Would we have liked to have won today and be up 3-1? That would have been best-case scenario.
“But it’s the Finals. The art of competition, they came here feeling like they had to win. It wasn’t easy. I think that’s kind of the beauty of it, that it’s not going to be easy. It shouldn’t be.
“We know we both want it and we got to go take it.”
The Warriors never will be an easy team to defeat, especially when Steph Curry goes vintage and turns in a 43-point performance, but Boston let this one get away in the final five minutes of Game 4.
The Celtics have until Monday to simplify their game as they look to take a 3-2 lead in Game 5. Tipoff from Chase Center is set for 9 p.m. ET.
