NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 16, 2024

Al Horford

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. What was this morning like for you? Have you had Father's Day yet?

AL HORFORD: No, I left home pretty early. My kids, they made the trip to Dallas. They were still sleeping when I left. So I think they felt the trip and everything. When I get home today, I'll get to spend time with them.

Q. What is it like putting everything behind you after Game 4? What's the conversation like going into Game 5?

AL HORFORD: Yeah, we acknowledge that they got the best of us. Just trying to quickly shift our focus to this opportunity that we have here, Game 5 here at home. Yeah, we're looking for a good practice today, a good session to get back on track for tomorrow night.

Q. Looking around, what do you expect this place to be like?

AL HORFORD: It's going to be special. It's going to be special tomorrow. It's going to be electric. The fans, they've wanted to be a part of an opportunity and game of this magnitude with a chance that we have in front of us.

So I know it's going to be electric here from before the game. I've been in these types of games, like where they are big games like that. The fans here, they are all into it. So I don't expect anything less.

Q. Coming out of that game the other night, do you use that as extra motivation?

AL HORFORD: People are going to use different things, and whatever you need to do, that's what will happen. For us, it's understanding the opportunity we have in front of us and making sure to take advantage of it.

Q. You obviously talked about lessons learned along the way here. Can you take a lesson as a group and discuss what it was like to win that first game when you were down 3-0 last year and the mentality that you guys kept bringing, to combat Dallas?

AL HORFORD: Yeah, that's a good question. I think we understand that they are a desperate team and they are playing probably a little freer. We know what that mindset is like. For us, it's really controlling what we can control and making sure that we are solid in the things that we need to do.