The Dominican Al Horford highlighted this Wednesday that containing the final push by the Dallas Mavericks was crucial for the Boston Celtics to achieve victory and go 3-0 in the NBA Finals.
“We played very good basketball. Our defense was very good. Obviously, resisting that run (from Dallas) in the fourth quarter was huge (…). We took the hit and were able to find a way,” he said in a conference of press.
“We needed to stay composed. We’ve been in these positions before and we learned from the past and I feel like we handled it well. Derrick White hit a big three at the end. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum made some big plays and Jrue Holiday was all over the place defensively,” he detailed.
The Celtics of Brown (30 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists) and Tatum (31 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists) are just one victory away from their 18th ring, with which they would surpass the Los Angeles Lakers (17), after beating the Mavericks this Wednesday in Dallas (Texas, USA) by 99-106.
Boston, without Kristaps Porzingis due to injury, led by 21 points in the fourth quarter when they conceded a brutal 22-2 run, but finally managed to maintain the advantage in an outcome in which Luka Doncic was ejected after accumulating six fouls with more four minutes left.
Also read
In the absence of Porzingis, Horford praised the work of Xavier Tillman, breaking into the second unit to complete the interior rotation of Joe Mazzulla’s team.
“I was going to play more time. So we needed someone off the bench to come out and give us minutes and Xavier was incredible tonight. His energy, defensively he contained his man time and time again. He was just ready for the moment (…) “This is the type of game that people remember forever: the type of impact he had,” he argued.
The fourth game of the Finals will be played this Friday also in Dallas.
Also read
2024-06-13 12:26:15
#Horford #contained #Dallas #Mavericks #caressing #NBA #ring
