The Boston Celtics didn’t just come up short in Game 4 of the NBA finals, they lost in historic fashion. A 122-84 deficit is the largest in franchise history for a finals game and the third-largest defeat ever in the NBA finals.
Dallas was the more aggressive team from the jump, finally showing off their offensive potential after a tepid start to the series. On the other end, Boston looked flat and unable to find any sort of footing. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla rested his starters by the third quarter Friday night, underscoring how lopsided the game really was. For veteran big man Al Horford, however, it was just a bad day at the office. He gave credit to Dallas for their home victory and suggested the loss would be a chance for Boston to recover and reload.
Horford thought the result was more a result of what the Mavericks did right than an indictment of how the Celtics performed.
“I think it was more about Dallas,” Horford said. “You know, I felt like they were the better team tonight, clearly. They played much better, and you’ve got to give them credit.”
“They were the better team. They were the team that was playing harder.”
Dallas jumped out to an early lead, and were up 26 points at halftime. For the first time in the series, the Mavericks dictated the terms of engagement. And for the first time in the series, Boston looked like they were out of answers.
Horford said to reporters that the Celtics know they did not play to their standard, and that they would do the work to avoid another loss Monday night.
“We have an opportunity here to be better,” Horford said. “And it all starts with us going over this film and having a good practice session and understanding the opportunity we have in front of us.
“So that’s what we’re going to do.”
This was the theme of the press conference for Horford. His teammate Jaylen Brown and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla and Jaylen Brown offered similar analysis. They tipped their cap to Dallas, and looked ahead for Boston.
“It just seemed like a lot of stuff was going their way,” Horford said of the Mavericks. “And I’m just eager to just look at this film and get together and see how we can be better.”\
“The one thing I can tell you about our group is that time and time again,” Horford said. “We’ve responded any time we have adversity, and this is an opportunity that we have here front of us.”
Horford and the Celtics will need to wait until Monday for a shot at redemption. Game 5 scheduled for Monday night at TD Garden.
“I think ultimately that’s what it comes down to for us, and there’s a lot of things that we can control and that I expect us to be much better on Monday.”
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