At halftime of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night, the Boston Celtics were trailing the Miami Heat by five.
The Celtics felt fine. In the first half, they committed 10 turnovers and gave up nine offensive boards to Miami, which allowed the Heat to take 14 extra shots.
Celtics coach Ime Udoka said that they weren't playing their best.
Jaylen Brown was playing worse than everyone else. He went 2-for-7 from the field and committed four turnovers in the first quarter.
The second half began. Brown was the face of the team's revival.
The Celtics went on to win 93-80 over the Heat, as Brown's 19-point, 0-turnover second half allowed Boston to finally break open what was a rock fight in the first half.
Brown said the same thing from the first half to the second. That is it. The game opens up a little bit as the game wears on because some of the energy starts to wear off. In the second half, the game opened up for me.
I did not want to get down. I did not want to think that this game was over. My team needed me to respond.
The first half was bad. Throw it away. Come out and play basketball in the second half.
It was not clear if Boston would be able to follow through on Brown's instructions in the first half of Game 5. The Celtics did not allow the Heat to break the game open in the other periods when Boston went off the rails.
Things were just as bad in Miami. The Celtics were throwing the ball around in the first half, and the Heat couldn't hit a shot. Kyle and Max went 0-for-15 from the field and 0-for-12 from 3-point range for the game. Jimmy Butler was just 4-for-18. The Heat finished 7-for-45 from 3-point range.
"You have to enjoy this, you do," the Heat coach said. If you want to get a ticket to the Finals, you will have to do a lot of tough stuff. You remember the rest of your life when you have the emotions and the breakthrough that you have. On the 29th, bring this thing back. We talked about that in there.
The rest of the series will never be called pretty. For the Celtics, it was the latest example of the physical play they have prided themselves on throughout the playoffs.
The mental stress and strain we put on some teams with our defense has worked and carried us through the playoffs at times. Antetokounmpo slowed down a bit in the last round against Milwaukee. If we don't give them easy baskets in transition, it will be hard for them to continue to be thrown at.
We are always confident that our guys will figure it out eventually.
In the second half, Brown and Tatum did so. Brown didn't have a turnover in the final three quarters. In a game that was crying out for someone to make a shot, Brown stepped up to the plate in the second half.
He hit the last shot of the third quarter and the first of the fourth to push Boston's lead into double-digits. He scored 13 of his points in the fourth quarter on 5-for-5 shooting.
Brown said that the guys were getting settled in and that they should stop turning the ball over. We were only down by five. We knew if we took care of it, we would get some open opportunities.
Continue to play basketball and be aggressive. Basketball is 48 minutes because of that.
It was a similar transformation for Tatum, who was grabbing at his shoulder throughout the first half, as he was clearly laboring from the nerve issue that briefly knocked him out of the fourth quarter of Game 3.
In the first half, he tried to make plays for others and ended the night with 22 points, 12 rebound and 9 assists, as he settled into a rhythm in the second half.
It was bothering me, according to Tatum.
They are a really good team. Both teams play hard. The guys like Rick White and Marcus Smart made some big shots. Everyone contributed from the beginning to the end.
The Celtics will have a chance to take the final step into the league's championship round when the series returns to Boston.
The Celtics have seen a lot of twists and turns during the playoffs, including coming back from a 3-2 deficit to beat the Heat in the conference semifinals, and then losing to the Bucks in the conference finals.
We had to go on the road and win a Game 6 to get back in the game, and we did that. We need to go back home and win the game, not relaxing because we are up.
It is possible for Miami to come back. Obviously, we did it last series, so knowing that, talking about that, obviously enjoying this one, but not being satisfied, we still need to play better. The job is not done yet.
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