What Red Sox’s Alex Cora Preached To Celtics Before NBA Finals

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora knows what it takes to win a championship.

The 48-year-old won the World Series back in 2018 with the Red Sox and also won in 2007 as a player. On top of winning with Boston, Cora won a ring in 2017 on the Houston Astros coaching staff.

With all the winning Cora has taken on, he offered some advice to the Celtics before their trip to the NBA Finals. The Red Sox manager met with the team prior to the start of the series with the Dallas Mavericks.

“We talked about staying the course,” Cora told reporters, per MassLive’s Clara Cahill-Rogers. “It was the most important thing. Organizations do things differently. I actually told them about Game 3 in the (2018) World Series. I felt that was a turning point for us. We felt that we were going to win the World Series after that game. And it wasn’t actually just Nate (Eovaldi), it was just the effort and how we went about our business.”

In Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, the Red Sox fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in 18 innings. After that, Boston bounced back in Game 4 with a big 9-6 win.

Cora mentioned how Game 4 was pivotal to staying on track.

“It was a show n’ go in Game 4,” Cora said. “When we walked into Dodgers Stadium, we saw the Dodgers taking batting practice, and that’s when we were like, ‘You know what? We’re gonna be OK.'”

Cora took multiple opportunities to congratulate the Celtics, including in a tweet after the game and also to reporters on Tuesday.

“Man, it was fun to watch,” Cora said. “It was fun to see the city last night, the way they went wild. To have a goal in mind and the pressure of winning the whole thing — people think great teams just win and that doesn’t happen very often.”

Now the Celtics will celebrate their Finals win with a parade in Boston on Friday at 11 a.m. ET.