This article was compiled from: The Athletic
Written by Jay King
原标题：Celtics, after a bad week and a good talk, are alive again heading into Game 6
The Celtics beat the Heat 110-97 at home to make it 2-3 on aggregate, with four Green Army players scoring 20+. Two consecutive wins have rekindled their hopes that with just two more wins, the Green Army will become the first team in history to turn around 3-0 down. The Athletic's Jay King reveals the inside story of the Green Army's two-game winning streak
When the Celtics wrapped up a video conference in Miami on Tuesday morning (local time), an unlikely voice emerged. After three consecutive defeats in the Eastern Conference, the Green Army's season is already on the verge of ruin.
"I have something to say," Green Army assistant coach Matt Reynolds began.
Reynolds joined the Celtics in 2015 as a video editor and is now an assistant coach for the Green Army. He doesn't usually speak in such a way. Smart, who played for the Green Army before Reynolds arrived, said he had never seen Reynolds make a similar move. The fragmented status quo of the Green Army made the assistant unable to stand it.
Matt Reynolds (left) is interviewed by reporters
Teaching assistant rare speech saves the season
Trailing 3-0 in the East final, the Celtic players' faces were full of frustration and distraction. Their season was promising a week ago, but now it seems to be falling apart.
"Matt (Reynolds) is really a guy who doesn't talk much," Smart said, "and he's not a lot of talker." Reynolds is understood to have only spoken for about 35-45 seconds, but the Celtic players need to hear him. They need something to get out of the so-called "downturn" of the moment. Reynolds told the players they had a bad week during the nine-month-long season.
"Don't ruin the season with a bad week," Reynolds told the Green Army players.
After Reynolds' speech, the Green Army has won two straight games. No team in NBA history has ever turned around from 3-0 down, but two consecutive beatings over the Heat have restored confidence and unity to the Green Army. If the Celtics do work wonders, Reynolds' words should be seen as one of the driving forces driving them forward.
"He's too good, he's too good!" Smart sighed. As soon as Reynolds spoke, the players' attention was drawn. For Green Army fans, Reynolds' primary job is to help Masura decide when to challenge the referee's decision.
He is permanently responsible for editing game footage and also shows players on the training ground when needed. In 2022, Reynolds was promoted to assistant coach of the Green Army, and his tireless efforts have earned the respect of the players. "Everyone loves him and respects him, we see the work he does, and we all love Matt very much."
Reynolds did a lot of trivial things, but never had a speech like this, and when the Celtics needed it most, he stepped up. Mazura said Reynolds' words made everything clear, with the 57-win regular season and the first two rounds of playoffs making the Greens one of the favourites to win the championship, and they shouldn't just fall in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Green Army is just one win away from stealing seven
"Sometimes, you have a bad week at work," Mazura said, "and obviously we didn't pick the best time to have a week like this, but we've done it now, we're sticking together and fighting hard to stay alive, and everyone is really united." ”
In the G5 game, the Green Army remained focused from the start, playing a 20-5 start, leading by as many as 24 points, and never giving the Heat a lead. They also caused the Heat to miss 16 times overall. The Green Army has excelled at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and now they only need one more away win to push the series into the Big Seven.
"For some strange reason, including last season, we always seem to make things harder for ourselves," Tatum said, "but what I do know is that when things don't go well, you can see the true character of a person, a team, and our ability to come together and solve problems when things don't necessarily work for us... Everyone will fight hard in a pinch, you look at your left and right, believe that the person next to you will fight at all costs. ”
The Green Army losing G3 looks like it is really possible to surrender without a fight. Mazura called them "disconnected," and Lowe agreed, and Reynolds must have felt it.
"I've been here for nine years and I haven't really heard him (Reynolds) speak so passionately," Smart said, "and we grew together and helped the team to win, and it was a way he came up with to help us, and we needed it, we needed it very much." Everyone was down, because being swept away was never fun. ”
"When someone who doesn't talk much, opens his mouth with conviction and passion, it will definitely keep you going. We're happy that Matt is here, we had a bad week, it can't get worse, just play hard and things will work out, we continue to play the right way and trust each other. We all felt his words and remembered them in our hearts. ”
The Eastern Conference G6 will be fought at 8:30 a.m. Beijing time on May 28, can the Green Army continue to win and push the series into a tie-break? Let's look forward to it together.