Nobody gave the Miami Heat a chance to win Game 6 over Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals. But thanks to a 47-point outburst from Jimmy Butler, the Celtics all of the sudden find themselves with their backs against the wall in a 3-3 series.
Speaking to reporters Saturday morning, Boston head coach Ime Udoka laid out what Celtics need to do to win Sunday night and reach their first NBA Finals since 2010.
And according to Udoka, it all begins with starting fast:
A lot has to do with our starts and having to play catch-up the whole game. … We’d like to get off to better starts, put some pressure on the opponent when they’re in that situation, similar to what we did against Milwaukee in Game 7.
That’s our mindset coming in. Obviously, going into [Miami], we want to start better. We have confidence in going down there winning, too, but we have to get ourselves off to better starts, get ourselves easy baskets and not give them life early in the game.
The Celtics fell into a 12-5 hole early on Friday night, thanks in part to several careless turnovers to start the game.
In what could be Boston’s last game of the season, Udoka will need his players to come out locked-in from the tip.