Boston Celtics

Here’s what the Celtics are saying about their comeback win over Cleveland

Avery Bradley celebrates after shooting the winning basket in Boston's 111-108 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

By Nicole Yang

2 minutes to read

Trailing 56-77 with 6:39 left to play in the third quarter, the Celtics appeared to be destined for another brutal playoff loss at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

However, Boston mounted an improbable comeback that culminated in a game-winning three-pointer by Avery Bradley with 0.1 seconds on the clock. As Celtics forward Gerald Green told The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach, “Just because we were down those first two games and were down in the third quarter didn’t mean we didn’t believe in ourselves.”

Here’s a look at everything else the team had to say following their stunning 111-108 victory:

Al Horford

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On what made the difference in Game 3: “Heart. We got heart. This team got heart. We got beat bad, but it’s all about how you rebound and we bounced back tonight.”

Jaylen Brown

Avery Bradley

On the Marcus Smart’s Game 3 performance: “He was aggressive from the beginning of the game. That’s what we needed him to be. A lot of people counted us out with Isaiah not being here, and he is a big part of this team. But Smart took this opportunity to come out and be aggressive on both ends of the floor and make plays for our team. We need Smart to play that way all the time.”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qICvtta6ZcU

Marcus Smart

On his mindset coming into Game 3: “Really just coming in I just kept telling myself, you have nothing to lose, just go out there and play. You’ve been working hard throughout this whole year on your game. Just let it flow and let it show.”

Jonas Jerebko

Kelly Olynyk

Brad Stevens

On the team’s performance being down 21 without Isaiah Thomas: “We were playing way better. I don’t know how to phrase it, other than that. We were playing way better. We were getting good shots on offense and playing with great purpose. On defense, I thought we were much better than the score indicated. I think when you play better, you feel better and you just kind of stay the course.”

On how he got his team to play hard like it mattered: “We’ve got guys that have chips on their shoulders. A lot of these guys have been overlooked, and this is their first opportunity to really play a meaningful role. As they’ve continued to play and play better and better and better, they’ve just risen in their games and with our team. We knew that Friday was a 46-point disaster. Worth one. It wasn’t worth all four. It was worth one. So we got back together.”

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On watching Bradley’s three-pointer bouncing on the rim: “Thank God it’s bouncing on the rim because that’s taking time. If it goes in or doesn’t go in, they have a timeout left. We wanted to go at six seconds, and the hope was that they’d have less than one if they did get the ball. So when it bounced around, I was actually hoping it went in, obviously, but not completely disappointed that it was bouncing up there.”