NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 10, 2022

Al Horford

Boston Celtics

Game 4: Postgame

Warriors 107, Celtics 97

Q. In your opinion, what went wrong in the fourth quarter, specifically the scoring drought that you went through? What did you think was the main issue there?

AL HORFORD: Yeah, I felt like we took possessions for granted. I don't feel like we executed as well as we did the previous game. We really can't do that.

Definitely need to be better there down the stretch, just a little more locked in as a group.

Q. You had so many great defensive moments against Steph, but you finally get to crunch time in the series for the first time and he does what he did at the end. How difficult is that challenge against him when you have to do it for a full 48 minutes?

AL HORFORD: A lot of credit to him. He was great tonight. I think you have to give him his credit when credit is due. Just really tough and made plays for their team and put them in a position to win the game.

Got to give him credit.

Q. Like you just said, you do give the Warriors credit for coming in here and doing what they do. It seems like in these losses there is a lot of stuff that you guys can control that you don't. Can you explain why the ebbs and flows, some games you control it and some you can't.

AL HORFORD: You know, it's kind of been us this whole playoff run (smiling). It's one of those things that it's like we feel like we kind of got it put together, now our backs are against the wall.

This team, we've shown all year when our backs are against the wall, we have to come out and respond. Obviously it's a big challenge ahead, but it's something that we have to -- I've said it before, I sound repetitive, but we're going to have to look at this film, we're going to have to figure out how we can be better and come out and be better.

Q. It seemed like from the opening quarter the offense was just stagnant, guys looking at each other, Marcus is dribbling looking for guys to move, guys aren't moving. Sometimes it seems guys didn't know the play. How tough is it to try to get the offense going when it seems like from the start it's not?

AL HORFORD: You're right. You're right. I think it was very stagnant. For whatever reason, we just weren't executing like we needed to offensively.

Despite that, I felt like we were in good positions. We had good opportunities. But you're absolutely right. I think from the beginning we just couldn't really get it going like we wanted to.

Q. I think the way you may have put it is you had to do it difficult. You don't seem fazed by that. Is it frustrating? Are you enjoying this challenge?

AL HORFORD: I feel like all year we've had to put our heads down and go to work. I've said it before, winning is hard. Winning is hard. We do it, and there's moments where we're growing as a team, as a group still, even now.

This is another challenge, another opportunity for us to embrace this and be better.

Q. There's no more than three games left in the season. How much does that change the approach to these final two or three games when you know there's nothing beyond that?

AL HORFORD: Yeah, I mean, just looking at Game 5, just focusing on that game. We'll get to San Francisco tomorrow. I'm sure we'll have a film session and we'll start preparing, getting ready and prepared for Monday.

All our energy, all our focus is right there. So that's the way that we're going to approach it.