The Boston Celtics battled back from a 26 point deficit on Thursday night to defeat the Miami Heat 98-88 in the final game of the regular season for both teams. The comeback was the largest comeback in any game during this NBA season.
The Celtics trailed by 24 when they entered the locker room at halftime. The Celtics were honoring members of the 1966, 1976, and 1986 championship teams during halftime, so Head Coach Brad Stevens said that he used that as motivation for his players.
"Who do we want to be?" said Stevens, "There are guys sitting around this building that hung banners. Like, how do you want to play? How do we want to feel about ourselves? And we just looked different after that."
The key to the comeback was the Celtics stifling second half defense. Miami seemingly hit every shot in the first half, but couldn't buy a bucket in the third quarter as they could only come up with 5 points in the quarter. The Celtics built on this momentum and were able to take the lead midway through the fourth.
Although this game was overshadowed by the late games that saw Kobe Bryant score 60 point in his final game and the Warriors win their NBA record 73rd game of the season, it was still a classic comeback. Despite the win, the Celtics will still be the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
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