Jaylen Brown and Al Horford led a team meeting leading up to Celtics-Knicks Game 5. They wanted to refocus the team on the present moment, trying to come back down 1-3 in the series. They and Joe Mazzulla struck a balance between showing their concern and compassion for Jayson Tatum following his Achilles tear and identifying how they can win each remaining game.
“The air left the room after hearing the news with J.T., so we didn’t want to go out like that,” Brown said. “We didn’t want to make no excuses. We didn’t wanna come out and give up, or just turn the season in like everybody else would probably expect.