Ainge: Celtics Comeback Against Heat 'A Wake-Up Call' Heading Into Playoffs
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Celtics closed their regular season with an incredible 26-point comeback win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, earning them the five seed in the Eastern Conference and a meeting with the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs.
The Celtics came out flat Wednesday night in front of their home fans, with Celtics legends like Bill Russell, John Havlicek and Kevin McHale sitting courtside. They were booed by the TD Garden faithful as they walked off the court for halftime, but a new team emerged for the second half.
The Celtics had a renewed sense on defense, and held Miami to just five points in the third quarter. They outscored the Heat 60-26 in the second half and pulled off the biggest comeback in the NBA this season to finish the season at 48-34.
"It showed the grit of our team, and that's been their identity all year long," Celtics president Danny Ainge told Toucher & Rich on Thursday morning. "We have our struggles at times offensively, but [they came back] with amazing defense in the second half with a group of small guys on the court. That was a really fun and exciting atmosphere last night.
"The effort picked up in the second half and it was very impressive. It was everyone on the court doing their job, doing the extra and going all out. It was fun to watch," he said.
After dropping their two games prior to Wednesday night's regular season finale, Ainge was happy to see the Celtics find their identity again in the final 24 minutes against Miami.
"I think we found ourselves again," said Ainge. "I think last night was a wake-up call, and that is our team. That's the team we all recognized all year long that played with that intensity. If we play hard it's not going to guarantee us a win, but if we don't play hard it will guarantee us a loss in the playoffs. I was glad to see we finished the season on a really strong, as intense basketball as we played all year."
Now Boston has to face off against the Hawks, a team they lost three of four regular season meetings against.
"Paul Millsap is a terrific player; one of the most underrated in all of basketball and has been for a few years. He has a three point shot now that he didn't used to have, he rebounding machine and is very clever and smart," said Ainge. "Kyle Korver, you can keep him under control for a while and then bam, bam, bam, he's a great shooter. Then their speed at the guard line; Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder are great guards who have a great deal of speed that have given us problems. Those are the things that worry me the most."
Ainge had tempered postseason expectations last week when he joined Toucher & Rich, reiterating that he didn't think the current Celtics team could win a championship. His players weren't too happy to hear that, but Ainge stressed that it really doesn't matter what he thinks.
"I try not to build up too many expectation for our guys. If they hear it and don't like it, that's great too. The belief has to be in them, what they believe. It doesn't matter what I believe. I believe we can win the first round, win our first game on Saturday and that's really all that matters right now," he said. "I know that this team does not look like a championship team on paper. We have a lot of small guys, we're undersized at every position, but I love the grit of this team and I can't wait to see what they can do in the playoffs."
And of course, Rich couldn't let Ainge go without asking him about Bill Walton tucking his jersey in when he took the court at halftime.
"It's Bill," he said. "I'm just glad he didn't have a Grateful Dead shirt on."
