Al Horford Reacts To Celtics Game 7 vs Heat | 2023 ECF

Al, with what you guys have been able to accomplish in game six, the way you won game six, how disappointing, frustrating was it the way you guys came out? And as you get older, how tough is it to bow out at this point? Well, obviously, very disappointing for our group. We had very high hopes, high expectations, especially after a game like that. We felt like we had momentum and an opportunity. And the guys in the locker room, I believe, gave it their all. We gave it our all. This was a very hard series. To go down in the whole 3-0 in that way, there's a lot that goes to it. And it's not only physical. I feel like it's emotional. It's very draining. And I feel like tonight, we kind of felt it a little bit. I mean, it was a lot. And we had opportunities. We just couldn't get it going. But more than anything, I'm proud of the group. I'm proud of the group, of the growth of our team this year, the type of guys that we have, the leaders that we have in that locker room. And it's obviously very disappointing for us right now. Seemed like a lot of players didn't think you guys found the consistency you needed to this year. How do you evaluate the consistency the team played with this year? And why do you think you might not have been as consistent as? I'm not going to get caught up in consistency questions and things like that. We have a good group. We had a lot going on this year. And our guys should hold their heads high because we had a lot of adversity. And in that locker room, we dealt with a lot of things. And our group was very professional all year, worked really hard. And it's disappointing that we didn't get our results. We failed. We failed because we wanted to win a championship. That was our goal. But despite that, I'm very proud of that group because there was never any excuse. We went through ups and downs, but we stuck with it. So right now, I feel like we want solutions. And sometimes you have to step back and look at the work. And that's just not going to happen right now in the heat of the moment. Is that the key, to just step back after this? Is that how you guys plan? I think we have to look at it. Everybody will look at it individually. And I'm sure that our management will assess things and we'll go from there. But to judge right now, I don't think it's fair to this group of guys. Al, during a time out there, I forget exactly where it was late in the game, you sat down. It seemed like you were telling everybody to just kind of calm down and relax. What were you seeing in that moment as the game seemed like it was kind of like a critical point where the game was starting to get away? When was that? It was, I don't know if it was the beginning of the fourth quarter or after the early time out in the beginning of the fourth quarter, you sat down. And we're trying to talk to everybody. What were you seeing in that moment from the guys? And how did the game just kind of get away from you? Yeah, it's tough because I felt like this game, we had the right intentions a lot of the time. We were making the right plays offensively. Shots just weren't falling. So we kept it together, I felt like, for most of it. And then that beginning of the fourth, I feel like guys finally kind of started getting discouraged. So at that moment, I wanted to bring the group in. I wanted us to get going. We needed to find ourselves because that was the, you know, maybe it was a couple other times, but that was like really the first time that I felt us really go down. And it was like we had a lot of game left to play. And I didn't want us to feel bad about ourselves. So I felt like that was a critical point. And you know, we had a few turnovers there. We just couldn't kind of muster anything going. And I mean, I know you said a lot about letting things sit. But this is a team that just lost three home games in a seven-game series. Is there, what's the main lesson, I guess, to take out of losing the series in this fashion, losing these games at home? Yeah, this is difficult because, you know, this building for so many years has been so special. And, you know, it's very disappointing, you know, losing these games here. We talked about it as a group, about ways to coming out and having that edge at home and being great and getting the crowd to rally behind us. And, you know, I feel like for whatever reason, we always felt coming back here was kind of our safe haven, that we were going to be fine. I'm not going to say that that's bad, but I definitely think that, you know, for whatever reason, you know, we just kind of let loose a little bit at times here at home, just thinking that we'll be fine and we'll kind of find our way. And, you know, that's something that we'll have to look at and make sure that we shift that mindset of, you know, being, protecting home, kind of being more aggressive, being more... Because on the road, I feel like there's that, you know, there's that edge that we have. And, you know, we have to be consistent in that. That's something that we have to be better at. Al, what did it take to even get yourselves into this position to have this opportunity for tonight? And then just how insanely difficult is it to win four straight games under those conditions? Yeah, no, it's very difficult. It's a mindset that, you know, you have to play with a certain edge and kind of desperation because we let ourselves get into that hole. And I just think that, you know, there's a lot that goes into it physically, emotionally. There's a lot that goes into it. And you get to this point and you still have to play another game and you still have to win another game. And trust me, every guy in the locker room, we wanted it really, really bad. And, you know, it's tough, but as hard as it is, you know, we have to learn from this. It's not easy right now, but it's something that, you know, that we have to learn as a group. Last question, Gary. Al, I guess the theme of this team will be if you guys didn't have the lackadaisical stretches, didn't play with your food sometimes, you guys would have went to the finals, potentially won it. How do you change that? How do you take everything serious, not you personally, but the team, everything seriously for 48 minutes? Because this was supposed to be the season, unfinished business, you guys got a bad taste, and you fell short mainly because losing the first two games at home. How do you change that? Yeah, that was, you know, that was terrible. You know, losing those first two games at home just puts you in such a hole, just changes everything. And to your point, that's a really good question because we addressed a lot of those things. And right now, I don't have the answer for you. We addressed a lot of them, especially after the Philly series and even the Atlanta series. We're like, hey, you know, we have to be better. We have to do these things. And it's something that continues to happen. It's a pattern that happens with us. And, you know, we're going to have to do some soul-searching there because some things have to change in that regard. And we had a great opportunity, to your point, and we failed. And that definitely has something to do with it. Thank you, guys.