NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 16, 2024

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. If you don't mind starting with a personal question, what are your emotions on Father's Day?

XAVIER TILLMAN SR.: I don't know. That's a good question. I'm trying to be as present as possible. Obviously, with my father passing away recently, it's a hard thing to talk about. I don't know. I'm happy my kids are -- they celebrated with me today. That was pretty cool.

Hoping that my siblings are doing okay back home.

Q. What is this like for you, working on this day?

XAVIER TILLMAN SR.: It sucks to work on Fathers's Day, to be honest with you. You would think that's a day we would get off. But it is what it is. We're here to win.

Q. Just the fact that you guys are here, back on your home floor, able to potentially close this out, what does it mean to you guys to potentially be able to do it here?

XAVIER TILLMAN SR.: That would be awesome. Obviously we have three more opportunities, tomorrow being the first one. We're going to give it all we got. All we need is the fans to come in there and give us that energy, and we'll do the rest.

Q. What do you expect this environment to be like come tomorrow night?

XAVIER TILLMAN SR.: Crazy. I expect it will be probably crazier than Game 1. Game 1 was crazy, so I expect it to be crazier than that.

Q. Setting the bar pretty high?

XAVIER TILLMAN SR.: No. This is an organization and a ballclub that they have wanted this for so long that I feel like they are ready for this moment.

Q. How do you see Jrue Holiday as a teammate as opposed to the other side? How has he meshed with this team?

XAVIER TILLMAN SR.: He's a very selfless player, but he can still make an impact on the court. It's very interesting to know that he was an All-Star last year, and he's playing a role right now that you wouldn't have known then. He's a guy who doesn't get plays drawn for him, but he'll still have a night when he drops 26 points. He's a guy who makes all the little plays, offensive rebounds, back cuts, the extra passes. He's guarding the best offensive player usually while he's out there. He is a do-it-all type of guy, for sure.

Q. You've played on a bunch of teams. How different is it to be in an environment where you have not just Jrue but a lot of selfless players?

XAVIER TILLMAN SR.: I feel like this team is so talented and has so many different weapons. For us, the only way we are able to make it this far is for everybody to be selfless. It's been really cool to see guys like JT and JB make a play where they have two guys on and kick it versus force it up. They're talented enough to make the shot, but they feel as if there's a guy open, give him the ball and we've got to trust him.