Celtics Notes: Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum

Celtics Joe Mazzulla suggested it’s vital that center Al Horford not be concerned with his shooting struggles in the series vs. the Heat, but just keep firing away.

“Al just has to continue to shoot the ball with confidence when he’s open,” Mazzulla said, via Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald. “He’s been one of our better shooters throughout the year, and when he’s playing well, he gives us a great opportunity on the offensive end. Defensively, he’s been very, very solid.”

The Celtics trail their Eastern Conference finals series vs. the Heat by a 2-0 count. I wrote more about the series right here.

Horford is just 1-of-8 on 3-pointers in the two games vs. the Heat, and 4-of-13 shooting overall.

• Forward/guard Jaylen Brown indicated the Celtics have no choice but to stay positive. “Both of these two games (the Heat) have been able to come out on top, but who is to say we can’t come out on top in the next two?” Brown said, via Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “We can’t lose our confidence. It’s the first to four. … It should make for a better story.”
• Fellow wing Jayson Tatum agreed. “We have to execute better. We have had double-digit leads in both games and a turnover has changed the momentum or offensive rebounds led to a 3 has changed the momentum,” he said, via Bontemps. “So we’ve been up and we got to do a better job of making those, I would call them winning plays, in those situations.”
• The Celtics collapsed in Game 2 because no one “stood up and fought back” after the confrontation between forward Grant Williams and Heat star Jimmy Butler, wrote Jay King of The Athletic.

"I still have the utmost confidence – everybody has the utmost confidence. We've just got to get ready for Game 3.”

Jayson Tatum and his teammates know they've got an uphill battle ahead of them in Miami, and they're ready for the fight.https://t.co/cdEGxuymFS

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 20, 2023