The wild cause Jayson Tatum couldn’t handle media completely suits gorgeous Celtics’ loss

BOSTON — Moments after Jaylen Brown accomplished his Recreation 2 postgame press convention, sirens started to blare inside TD Backyard. Safety urged reporters to rapidly head for the exits, whereas gamers rushed out of their locker rooms to depart the world.

Dozens of individuals flooded the car parking zone exterior North Station. The remainder of the postgame media availabilities — together with Jayson Tatum’s — have been abruptly canceled.

Reporters who’ve lined the crew for over a decade shared that they’d by no means skilled such an evacuation, one occurring smack in the midst of postgame media. The hearth vans that pulled into TD Backyard cultivated a scene that definitely felt unprecedented.

After the world’s doorways ultimately reopened, TD Backyard launched an official assertion: “Nobody was injured. The reason for the fireplace alarm is at the moment underneath investigation.”

A hearth evacuation concluded a shocking flip of occasions at TD Backyard

The inexplicable sirens and ensuing exterior chaos weren’t associated to the Celtics’ late-game collapse.

However the scene of reporters who sat crouched on avenue curbs in a determined try and publish their sport tales helped painting a becoming second act to Recreation 2.

What made the Celtics’ back-to-back defeats so surprising?

Apart from for the plain cause — Boston was closely favored to win this collection — for the second consecutive sport, the Celtics led the Knicks by 20 factors late within the third quarter.

And identical to they did on Monday evening, the defending champions blew that sizable lead on account of a slew of defensive lapses and ice-cold taking pictures.

In Recreation 2, after they led the Knicks by 20 with 3:12 left to play within the third quarter, the Celtics turned the ball over 6 occasions and shot an abysmal 17.9% from the sphere the remainder of the way in which.

“It sucks actually unhealthy proper now,” mentioned a deflated Kristaps Porzingis after the sport. “However we received a whole lot of basketball to play.”

Knicks ahead Mikal Bridges discovered his offensive footing scorching within the ultimate interval, exploding for a game-high 14 fourth-quarter factors and prepared the Knicks to again inside hanging distance.

On the opposite finish, Bridges stripped Jayson Tatum on the Celtics’ ultimate possession, and Knicks gamers darted to center-court to rejoice one more unbelievable victory.

“Two video games we have been up 20 factors, and someway we come out not with wins. It’s inexcusable,” Jaylen Brown mentioned. “However we’re going to study from it. We’re going to reply.”

For Jayson Tatum’s perspective on the evening’s unraveling, followers should wait a bit of bit longer.

The Celtics star, who shot 5-19 from the sphere in Recreation 2, didn’t get the possibility to handle reporters because of the evacuation. That abysmal taking pictures efficiency got here on the heels of a 7-23 FG efficiency in Recreation 1.

Mazzulla acknowledged that Tatum handed up some appears within the collection’s second sport.

“I believe Recreation 1 wasn’t inefficient, I assumed he simply missed some actually attractiveness,” Mazzulla mentioned. “I assumed [in Game 2], he handed up some ones that he was in a position to take.”

Nonetheless, the Celtics’ season will not be over

Whereas the percentages are stacked in opposition to them — solely 4 groups with home-court benefit in NBA historical past have come again from a 2-0 deficit — this can be a veteran group who completed the season only one sport wanting having the perfect street document in NBA historical past.

“Being down 2-0 sucks, however we received an excellent group, and if needed to choose any guys that get it accomplished, it’s the group that now we have in our locker room,” Brown mentioned. “We simply received to return out a bit of bit extra poised, take a deep breath, convert offensive rebounds — we missed lay-ups, some straightforward baskets.”

Within the 2023 Jap Convention Finals, an identical core led by Mazzulla, Tatum, Brown, and Al Horford clawed their means again from a 3-0 collection deficit in opposition to the Miami Warmth to power a Recreation 7 within the Jap Convention Finals.

That near-historic comeback in the end fell brief, however it demonstrated a stage of simple resilience.

“I take solace in the truth that now we have a problem forward of us,” Joe Mazzulla mentioned, “and now we have an opportunity to go after it collectively.”

Moments earlier than the sirens started blaring, a measured Brown mentioned the ache of the harrowing defeat was one everybody must embrace.

“Let it sting for an evening,” Brown mentioned. “However, tomorrow’s a brand new day. We transfer ahead.”