Celtics Ready To Respond After No-Show In NBA Finals Game 4

The Boston Celtics had their first chance to closeout the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

They failed miserably.

The Mavericks fended off a sweep by dismantling the Celtics on Friday night at American Airlines Center and handed them the third-largest loss in Finals history with a 122-84 defeat.

It had to be a stinging loss, but Jayson Tatum provided the silver lining for the Celtics.

“We wanted to come out and play super well and win, but it just didn’t go that way tonight,” Tatum told reporters, per league-provided video. “But, you know, we are fortunate. We get another opportunity on Monday.”

The Celtics surely are looking to do more with that opportunity than they did Friday. Boston was never really in the game as the Mavericks opened up a 61-35 halftime lead. Dallas’ advantage grew to 36 points with 3:18 left in the third quarter and at that time, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla waved the white flag and pulled his starters.

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Boston is looking to learn from this loss and when the dust settles from it, Al Horford feels the Celtics will be ready to respond in Monday’s Game 5 at TD Garden.

“It just seemed like a lot of stuff was going their way, and I’m just eager to just look at this film and get together and see how we can be better,” Horford told reporters, per league-provided video. “The one thing I can tell you about our group is that time and time again, we’ve responded any time we have adversity, and this is an opportunity that we have here in front of us.”

The last three times the Celtics won an NBA title in 1984, 1986 and 2008, they squandered an opportunity to closeout the series on the road only to come back home and lift up the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Those versions of the Celtics weren’t coming off a 38-point drubbing, though. But it will offer up to these Celtics a chance to show their mental toughness if they can get the job done.

“It’s a great opportunity to respond,” Brown told reporters, per league-provided video. “Give credit to Dallas. They came out and they played with force, and they played great. We just regroup. We keep our same mentality, and we come out and get ready to fight in another battle on our home floor.”