Boston Celtics

What the Celtics had to say after their thrilling 25-point comeback against the Rockets

It was very reminiscent of a certain Super Bowl.

Al Horford Boston Celtics
Al Horford celebrates the Celtics' win as the clock winds down. John Tlumacki/Globe staff

By Nicole Yang

10 minutes to read

The TD Garden was electric Thursday night.

With shades of the Patriots’ Super Bowl LI comeback, the Celtics overcame their own 25-point, third-quarter deficit against the Houston Rockets. Trailing from the jump, Boston acquired its first lead of the contest when Al Horford hit the game-winning floater with 3.9 seconds remaining.

Houston got off to a 12-0 start and never looked back during the first half. Shooting 47-percent from the field, the Rockets jumped out to a 62-38 lead after two quarters of what looked to be tired Celtics’ basketball. With 7:40 to go in the third, Houston led by a seemingly insurmountable 25.

Fast forward to final 10 seconds of the game, which featured the following sequence of events: Marcus Smart hits Jayson Tatum for a cutting dunk, Smart draws an offensive foul on James Harden to give the Celtics possession, Horford hits a two to give Boston the 99-98 lead, and Smart draws another offensive foul on Harden to close out the game.

Here’s what the team had to say after their emotional win:

Brad Stevens

On Marcus Smart drawing two offensive fouls from James Harden:

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“I haven’t rewatched them yet. Obviously, I didn’t have a great angle for that, standing on the other end of the court. But it looked to me that he held his ground, and obviously, we were playing pretty well up to that point — scoring and cutting it to one, cutting it to one, playing the foul game. They had hit their free throws, so obviously getting the ball back without them shooting free throws was a big deal.”

On how the team got back into the game, despite the large deficit: “Even though he did some things that I’m sure he’d like to have back, I think [Abdel] Nader gave us a great energy lift. I didn’t think we looked like we were matching their level in the first half. That’s why we started him in the second. Even though he missed some shots in the second, he got some boards back and was active.

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“It kind of got us started. Once we settled down and started making some shots, you kind of felt like we were going to get back in the game … We needed everybody. After a stretch like this, you need somebody who hasn’t played a lot to play — especially with guys out — to give you a little bit of a lift.”

On containing the Rockets during the second half: “They were unbelievable in the first half. It’s hard to play from ahead. It’s easy to play free from behind. That’s why you see this in the NBA all the time. But I thought we really guarded, we made shots as tough as possible, and then in the one or two — whether it was off a loose ball or offensive rebound or kick-out where they were wide open — their shots had a little bit more heat on them because you felt the pressure the whole half, instead of just playing free and easy, which they were in the first. They had us on our heels, so we tried to be more aggressive defensively. I thought Marcus was the key to that, kind of the head of that, but everybody added to it.”

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On the team’s energy: “You learn something about your group every time you take the floor. We’ve been down before, but we hadn’t been dominated like that and down and come back and won, so that was encouraging to see, again, guys stay poised but get pissed. I think that’s something you want to see out of your team. I think those are good qualities to have.”

On Marcus Morris: “He’s in a tough spot because he’s coming off that injury. The minute limitation thing is really hard because it’s hard to gain a rhythm. Instead of playing him in four stints, we just said we’re going to play him in two stints. Let him get a rhythm and go from there, but in that second-half stint, that’s the guy we need. We need him to be a really valuable scorer for us, and able to sit down in the stance and guard the way that he did. I thought he bought us some possessions guarding Harden. That’s not easy. I thought he really went in and fought for balls.”

On the final plays of the game: “You’re in it until the final horn sounds. I thought we really played with great poise, in getting those quick twos and not trying to jack a three that may have been a bad shot. Won by Smart on the drive, Tatum then got to the rim, and dunked it with eight seconds or whatever. Then Al, with good poise to just kind of take your time, recognize you got a little bit of time, and score the ball.

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“The only time I was really on edge was when that ball dropped out of Al’s hands at the end and Eric Gordon picked it up. I was like ‘That was all for naught if he makes that 75-footer.’ I’ve watched Eric Gordon since he was a kid and I’ve seen him do some things. I’m glad that didn’t go in.”

Marcus Smart

On the two charges he drew on Harden:

“We were just trying to make it real uncomfortable for him the whole night. He lost it and gave me a little nudge, and it was kind of right in front of the official. He called it and then Al scored it. They’re getting ready to take the ball out, and he bumped me chest-to-chest, and I’m just standing in my spot, getting ready to play defense again. My hands are up, and then once again, he does the same thing. He loses it again and the ref is right there again.”

On the importance of the energy in the building: “It was huge. We needed every bit of it, especially in the first half. They came out hot, and we just looked like we didn’t know what we were doing out there. That’s really the uniqueness of this type of fanbase in Boston. They stayed with us, they kept cheering us on, and they willed us and helped give us the strength to win this game.”

On what was behind the slow start: “I have no clue. They came out and had us on our heels. In the second half, we just tried to keep punching and punching back, and we stayed in the game. It was proven tonight that defense wins game.”

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On the refs’ foul calls: “We’ve been in too many situations this year, letting calls get to us. The call is made. We have to be able move on to the next play because while we’re worried about the play that just happened, they’re coming back at us. The last thing we need playing a great team like that is to be distracted. All your focus and attention needs to be on what the game plan is on the defensive and offensive end.”

On guarding James Harden: “Just get up in him. I know that’s probably crazy to say with a guy of his caliber, but when he can get to dancing, and he feels comfortable, it’s really tough to guard. But when you get up in him, and you kind of give him one way to go, and one option to go, it’s hard. It becomes frustrating.”

Kyrie Irving

On this game:

“I’ve had a few comebacks, but this was a special one. Just how we started, it was so ugly, man. It was just so ugly. We had to battle back. Obviously, you don’t want to start the game like that, but when you get down, you gotta piece together a few possessions. We always talk about gaps and time within the game where you got to take advantage. They came out firing, and we just had to battle back. It took a lot. It took everybody — coaches, us, fans.”

On the role of Shane Larkin and Terry Rozier: “It just picks up our pace on the defensive end. It’s a lot easier to play the game of basketball when you’re not taking the ball out of the rim. When you make the other team miss, it starts with top-of-the-key pressure, just really consistently doing it. It picks up our pace on the offensive end. We’re at our best when we’re getting stops or out in transition or making the defense miss and then getting out and getting to our spots.”

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On Marcus Smart’s defense: “That’s just being a basketball player, being around a lot of players. Understanding who you’re playing against, matchups, he’s been in the league for a little bit now, but Marcus has been drawing charges since I think he was in high school and college. Really getting up under guys and making them uncomfortable, especially in a pressure situation like that. He made the right decision. He usually does at the end of the stretch, which is why he’s in. Defensively, we can always go to him.”

On playing with only two refs: “I mean, we’re 10 athletes on the floor at one time, a lot of space. I mean, it’s going to make a difference. That’s why we have three refs. Both teams have to play within that realm. At times, it went in their favor. At times, it went in our favor. The best way to combat that is just to adjust. I think both teams did a great job of that.”

On playing in this atmosphere: “It’s just never quit. We’re never down and out, never completely out of the game. We got guys on the team, who just individually want to battle, and they’re willing to sacrifice and commit themselves to doing whatever it takes and putting us in a position to win.

“The fans just rally around us. They’re going crazy. I noticed that the later the games start, the rowdier the fans get. It was packed early, and you can just feel it in the atmosphere when we play against high-level teams. The expectations are just a little higher, which you love to be a part of, so you just gotta bask in that atmosphere.”

Al Horford

On what allows the team to have its best moments when things are most difficult: “We’ve had some tough losses here at home recently. Our crowd tonight was unbelievable, and at least for me, what kept driving me was that we have to do this for our fans. We just got to push through it. They were so into it, they’re supporting us, their energy was unbelievable.

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“It was about as loud as I’ve seen our arena get. I just feel like that really drove us because you’re looking going into halftime, and you can make all the excuses: the back-to-back, you’re tired. You just think about putting on a good show for the fans and seeing what we do, ourselves, as a group. I’m just proud that we were able to rally together and it was a good win for us.”

On his game-winner:

“It was supposed to eventually get to Kyrie’s hands, but Coach just told me to go and take it and make it a play.”

On the importance of Stevens’ poise: “It’s very important. We didn’t have any timeouts then, and I’m kind of looking over there like, ‘What do we do?’ And he was just very composed and told us clearly what we needed to do. We just executed it.”

Terry Rozier

On the team’s approach at halftime:

“We just didn’t stop believing. We had a special talk at halftime. We had a talk right before halftime. Kyrie brought everybody in, and we didn’t stop believing. We just fed off our fans’ energy. We fed off each others’ energy. Smart got us going, and we picked it up from there, and we didn’t look back.”

On what Irving said to the team at halftime: “We’re playing against a great team. This is a great test for us. Things are going bad, so people are going to doubt us, but we got each other. We’re the ones that are playing, stuff like that, basically that type of message. It got us going and it got us feeling good about ourselves. We know our coaching staff, every player on the team, we made sure the person sitting next to you wasn’t down. And we fed off of it.”

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On Marcus Smart: “Man, that just shows how crazy he is. He’s special, man, a guy like that. That’s not the first time I’ve seen him do stuff like that, but like I said, he’s just crazy.”

On his personal improvement: “I’m a professional player, so I just got to control what I can control — just taking care of my body off the court, watching film when I’m on the court, fighting like hell, and playing Terry Rozier basketball. Big ups to my teammates, they never let me get down, they never let me get too high, they never let me get too low. So I’ve found my way.”

On moving forward: “We just want to keep building off of it. We finally got two days before a game, so we just want to keep our foot on the gas and build off of this one, and keep going.”

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