Terry's Pep Talk Helps Spark Celtics 4th Quarter Comeback
BOSTON (CBS) - Jason Terry hasn't had a great start to his Boston Celtics career, but he deserves an assist that won't show up in the box score of Wednesday night's 99-96 win over the Toronto Raptors.
The Celtics entered the fourth quarter down 10 points after an extremely lackluster third quarter that saw them get outscored 34-19 by the Raptors. It was the same basketball that haunted the Celtics during their sub-.500 stretch during the season, and someone had to step up and let the team know it was time to get back to the basics that led them to four straight wins.
That man was Terry.
"We fell back into some old tendencies," Terry told CSNNE after the win. "We weren't moving the ball well. Offensively and defensively, we weren't helping out. And so it's so obvious in watching film of our last four or five games, when we play the right way and play Celtic basketball, it's night and day. When we don't, teams are going to get back in it and we're going to fall back into our old habits."
"It was a wake-up call for us," he said. "We didn't play our best game tonight. But we found a way to win by playing the right way."
Read: Vintage Garnett Performance Leads Celtics
Terry scored just two points in his 26 minutes on the floor, and had as many turnovers as he did assists (2). He's had far too many of those nights, stats-wise, this season, but stepping up and being a vocal leader on the bench can sometimes be just as good as the 16-points-per-game he's averaged over his career.
If he's not knocking down shots, the least he can do is boost up his teammates. Wednesday night, he did just that.
