After losing Game 3 and being down 0-3 in the series against the Heat, AL Horford invited his teammates to play golf instead of watching film. The team bonded together and now admit that the activity helped them tremendously to even the series result at 3-3.
After miraculously winning Game 6 against the Miami Heat and evening up the series at 3-3, the Boston Celtics are on the verge of pulling off a comeback of the ages. The thing that sparked the improbable turn of events after being down 0-3 is unusual as well.
Instead of focusing on all the mistakes they had made during the series, the Celtics' players chose to take their minds off of basketball. Led by Al Horford, they went to play golf at Topgolf, Jared Weiss from The Athletic writes.
"We completely skipped film. 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," Grant Williams told Weiss.
"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," Horford said.
Ironically, the man who inspired the activity - Al Horford - was one of the guys who missed the largest number of shots while playing golf. Jaylen Brown called the decision to play golf a crucial moment in the series but admitted that he wasn't that much better either.
"That moment, that small instance, that small moment really signifies everything that we're seeing right now," Brown said after the Game 6 win. "In that moment, we could have chosen to be like, throw in the towel, and I think like that's what everybody was expecting or seeing or feeling, that that was coming. But no, that's not how we wanted to go out. We appreciate all the fans who supported us to get to this point."
Instead of focusing on everything that was going bad, the Celtics went on to spend time together, forgetting all the pressure that was mounting on their backs for a while.
"I think it was pivotal," Horford said.
"We didn't play well the first three games. We didn't deserve to win, whatever you want to say. We really took it one game at a time. The series is not over. We've still got a big game Monday. But just the grit that we showed to get to this moment, I'm proud of that. I'm proud to be on this team," Jayson Tatum concluded.
