NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT VS. CELTICS

May 21, 2023

Al Horford

Boston Celtics

Game 3: Postgame

Miami Heat 128, Boston Celtics 102

Q. Al, in your opinion what went wrong here, and the second part of my question is, Joe Mazzulla says you guys have lost your defensive identity. Do you agree with that? What's your response to that?

AL HORFORD: Yeah, you know, definitely we let the runs affect us early on I feel like, and we had some just bad turnovers early on that really hurt us.

As far as the defense goes, for whatever reason, we have lost it, not doing as good a job as we can, so the challenge is this year that we've been able to bounce back and figure it out.

Our backs are against the wall now, so that's something that we have to do.

Q. You guys have come through in these moments before, and this game felt like a must-win. What was different about tonight?

AL HORFORD: Yeah. You know, I obviously expected more from our group, and we just didn't have it like we needed to, and they got going, they hit some tough shots, and that's the way it goes sometimes.

In the past we haven't let that affect us, and I feel like today it did.

Q. Coach said he didn't have the team ready enough to play. Do you feel like the star players and veterans have some responsibility, and what could they do or have they tried to do to get the team ready?

AL HORFORD: No. Coach is saying that, he's being generous. At the end of the day, that falls on each player. We know what we have to do. We knew the magnitude of this game.

As a player, I take responsibility because we didn't have what we needed to have. That's what that is.

Q. It seemed like you guys were demoralized out there, discouraged, some people would say quit. What happened out there? Is there something just not right with this team that might have been right a few months ago, and are you sensing that you guys are just cracking?

AL HORFORD: I think we're just having some adversity. I think it's tough. It's gotten tough for us.

We've dealt with adversity all year, and right now, I personally felt that before the game we had the right mindset, and sometimes you want something so bad, and things just don't go as you plan.

But it was tougher for us tonight, there's no question about it. But this is a part of our journey right now. And right now we're in a low low, and rightfully so, we're being counted out because we haven't been able to respond.

But we're not out yet. It is 3-0. I know what it looks like. I think I saw the other day, 0-149 or something like that. So, we're not out yet. We're still kicking. One of four teams that are still kicking.

Q. You had a passionate speech during a timeout. I want to say it was when the lead got to 18 before halftime. What were some of the things you told your team, and after the fact just now in the locker room, anything you said about this loss, anything related to what you were just saying right now?

AL HORFORD: After the game, it's just hard to talk and say -- there's a lot of emotions, different things going on. But the biggest thing for our group is for us to remain together, and through good or bad, we're a group that we stay together, and that's been the key to our success here, and right now it's not looking so great.

But that's my message to the group.

Q. At one point you guys cut the lead down to 12 in that third quarter and they came back with a big run and it seemed after that the effort waned a little bit. Do you feel like the frustration built up for you guys, and was it tough to see that happen in a game of this magnitude where things seemed to build up on you guys?

AL HORFORD: Yeah, yeah, that definitely was tough because I felt like at that moment, our offense hurt our defense. We weren't hitting shots, and then we weren't getting back on defense, and we have to understand that our DNA, our core as a team is on the defensive end. That's who we are, and that's something that we have to find if we want to come back and win this series.