The Celtics tied the regular season series against the Warriors by defeating them in overtime at TD Garden (121-118).
After the game, Jayson Tatum, who scored game-high 34 points, compared this game with the game in San Francisco earlier this season. According to him, the difference was how the Celtics approached it.
“I think the first time we played them in San Francisco, I felt like we bought into that rematch of the finals ABC game,” Tatum said. “First time back since we lost everybody wanted to win so bad.
“I think that was the first time all season that we played out of character that we played tense and we just kind of had to talk about it today, like, the fact of the matter is we lost, we lost a championship, no one win can bring that back, we can’t go back in time and change that.
“So didn’t look at this as a rematch of the finals. It’s just one game against a great team with great players and obviously a great coach. But it was just one game. Whether we won or lost tonight, we didn’t celebrate and hang a banner or anything. We still got a game on Saturday.
“So I think just coming in with that mindset of it’s January 19th, it’s a Thursday and we’re playing against a really good team. No rematch of the finals, anything like that. Not making it bugger than anything is. It’s one game, they all count as one. I think we learned that early in December playing against them and just came out a little bit more relaxed today than the first time.”
