The Boston Celtics are on the precipice of accomplishing something that has never happened in an NBA playoff series.
No team has recovered after going down three games to none to win a seven-game playoff series. History can be made Monday night at TD Garden in Boston.
With their thrilling buzzer-beater win in Game 6 against the Miami Heat, the Celtics became only the fourth NBA team to erase a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series and force a deciding game.
But how did the Celtics ease the tension in the room after falling behind? Swinging a few clubs at the Topgolf in Miami might have made the difference.
According to multiple reports, including an article from The Athletic’s Jared Weiss, the team decided to skip a film session after a Game 3 loss and head off to swing irons at the local driving range.
“We completely skipped film,” Grant Williams said. “We kept basketball away and we just focused on each other and getting that camaraderie and team back. We disconnected from the actual pressures and we were able to just enjoy one another. We’ve done movies before, we’ve done dinners. But that was our first time doing something active like that. Then we hit the film the next day.”
From ECF, reporting on #Celtics: After Game 3 and down 0-3, Marcus Smart told me the team was confused and frustrated. He credited a team event at Topgolf Miami, where he said it was just the guys, “whole team coming together to release the negative energy and get the chemistry…
— Ros Gold-Onwude (@ROSGO21) May 27, 2023
The move seemed to work wonders as the Celtics responded with an emphatic 116-99 in Game 4 of the series and then won on their home court in Game 5 before stealing a late victory in Game 6 to push the series to the limit.
The Heat still have a chance to win the series ― Game 7 is Monday (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT) and the winner faces Denver in the NBA Finals ― but they will have to win in Boston against a team sensing a historic comeback.
“We can do it. I know that we will do it,” Butler said. “We’ve got to go on the road and win in a very, very, very tough environment. But we are capable of it. So let’s get busy.”
No team has returned from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series in 150 tries and just three previous teams have a forced a Game 7 after losing the first three games of a series.
Boston can become the first to do it. The Celtics have momentum, experience, confidence and home-court advantage to pull it off.
For all their faults, they know how to win with their season on the line. “At their hardest times they stick by each other, and they’ve done that for long time, so credit to them,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.
Boston relied on its two All-NBA players to force the win-or-go-home scenario. Jayson Tatum had 31, 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocks and Jaylen Brown had 26 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Boston’s Marcus Smart added 21 points.
Down 3-0 a week ago, the Celtics avoided elimination for the fifth consecutive game since trailing Philadelphia 3-2 in the conference semifinals.
But now with a historic comeback in their sights, the Celtics can thank the relaxation that came from some time on the range. Horford, admittedly, struggled to make good contact during the session, but that wasn’t the point.
“For me at the end of the day, I guess what I can tell you is that our connection with this group goes beyond the court. It’s more on a human level, right?” Horford told The Athletic. “Like friendships, bonds that we’ve built here. Over basketball, I want to make sure that everybody is good and I think sometimes we get so caught up in everything that goes on in our business, you know, it’s expected, it’s our jobs, right? But at the same time, you have to have that perspective.”