BOSTON â On my way past the stands on the way to the locker rooms late Wednesday night, it was impossible to miss Al Horford’s father, Tito, as he stopped to accommodate requests for selfies with a parade of fans.
The Celtics had either earned a temporary stay of execution or written the first chapter of a stirring comeback story with their 127-102 Game 5 victory over the New York Knicks, and those lingering in TD Garden wanted visual mementos.
Decked out, as usual, in one of his son’s Celt jerseys, the 7-foot Tito looks like he could still play a bit â or at least put his six fouls to good use. He is, at 59, seemingly more famous now for being Al’s dad than he was as a player, which makes some sense, in that he played 376 minutes over three seasons with Milwaukee and Washington, while his kid has played in 1,078 regular season GAMES (and 188 more in the playoffs). As a proud father, he is fine with this development.
“I gotta talk to you,” Tito called out as he smiled for the camera apps on each phone. When he was through, he offered his assessment of the win over New York that kept alive a season thought to be ruptured along with Jayson Tatum’s right Achilles’ tendon.
“Defense and ball movement,” he said. “Defense and ball movement is what did it.”
Indeed, the Celtics jumped the Knicks aggressively, with Jaylen Brown crowding Jalen Brunson and setting a tone that reverberated all the way to Luke Kornet (7 of the Celts’ 12 blocked shots). At the other end of the floor, they played the kind of team basketball that defines the best of their offense. Brown led here, too, with a career-high 12 assists.
‘We Didn’t Want to Go Out Like That,’ Jaylen Brown Said
Brian Fluharty/GettyJaylen Brown led the Boston Celtics over the Knicks in Game 5.
It was the game the Bostonians needed to play on Wednesday â and the game they SHOULD have been playing all series, but didn’t.
“We didn’t want to go out like that,” Brown said after keeping the Knicks from celebrating advancement to the Eastern Conference finals on the parquet floor.
But was that valiant effort in the absence of a fallen star enough for them? Is that all they’ve got, or is there more?
“We’re just taking it a step at a time,” said Tito’s son Al Horford, measured as you’d expect as he sat by his locker after first repeating “Luke Kornet” four times through a smile. “Our first goal was to make sure that we brought it back to New York, and now we have to bring it back it back here.”
And, miles away from their psychological state as they filed out of the visitors’ dressing room at Madison Square Garden on Monday, the Celtics will return with a more optimistic step. Horford feels good about the situation.
“I do,” he said. “I do. I think that our group is playing together. I feel like we’re all rallying for JT, and at the same time, we have a different mindset about us. It was hard on us, but now we’ve refocused, and I feel like we’re playing with more of a purpose right now.”
Payton Pritchard Said ‘We Believe’
Brian Fluharty/Getty Payton Pritchard played 39 minutes in the Celtics Game 5 victory over the Knicks.
Seated nearby, Payton Pritchard, author of 17 points in a career playoff-high 39 minutes, wasn’t drinking any Game 5 Kool-Aid.
“This one really doesn’t matter right now,” said the diminutive guard, his knees wrapped in ice and feet in a bucket full of same. “We’ve just got to go to Game 6 and we’ve got to do it again. And then we’ve got to do it again. We’re going to lay it all on the line. We’re going to lay it all out and give everything we’ve got for 48 minutes and try to get Game 6 and bring it back.
“This game didnât really change anything with us. I mean, obviously it feels good to win, but we believe. And that’s all that matters.”
On the way back to the press room, the arena bowl was largely empty and quiet. What noise there had been in the moments after the game was devoid of the grand Knicks fan presence that had hung around after their team had gone up 2-0 here, chanting “Knicks in 4,” and “F*** the Celtics.”
The blue and orange legions had been loud earlier on Wednesday, with more of them taking advantage of a low get-in price on the secondary ticket market in hopes of seeing New York clinch the series. Visitors’ hoops were met with ovations, and there were scattered shouts of “Knicks in 5,” including one that broke the change of verse pause during the singing of the national anthem.
The question now is whether that was the last time the song will be performed on Causeway Street this basketball season.
Did the Celtics exhaust their supply of valiant, or will there be a Broadway in Boston production come Monday?
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