BOSTON — Derrick White strolled into the Celtics locker room with a smile on his face about an hour before tipoff Wednesday night. After greeting a team employee, White briefly stopped at his locker. Before heading out to the court, he said three words to his nearby teammates.
“Let’s win one,” White said.
After dealing with the devastating news of Jayson Tatum’s ruptured Achilles, the Celtics had hardly any time to prepare for saving their season in Game 5. But after an uplifting text message from Tatum and an attempt to refocus on fending off elimination, Boston regained its spirit in time to beat the Knicks 127-102 and pull within 3-2 in the second-round series.
“We did it for JT,” Payton Pritchard said.
Despite feeling crushed for Tatum, who underwent surgery Tuesday, the Celtics aimed to avoid being sunk by the emotions of his injury. Jaylen Brown and Al Horford, according to Luke Kornet, addressed the team at a film session on the eve of Game 5. Even while the players were personally processing the blow of Tatum’s injury, the veterans reminded their teammates that the season wasn’t done yet.
“Obviously, the air kind of left the room after hearing the news with JT,” Brown said. “So we didn’t want to go out like that. We didn’t want to make no excuses. We didn’t want to come out and give up or just turn the season in like what everybody else probably would expect. So we just said to the guys, said to each other, let’s come out, keep an open mind. Like, just come out and play basketball. Be ready to go and guard your ass off and take it from there, and we was able to find a way to win.”
Early in the third quarter, with his team leading by 1 point, Brown dove into the Celtics bench for a steal after poking the ball away from Jalen Brunson. While parallel to the court, just inches above the floor, Brown reached his left arm well past the out-of-bounds line to bat the ball back into play. Joe Mazzulla believed the hustle play changed the game.
Wow. That was really amazing hustle play from Jaylen Brown.
Channeling his inner Marcus Smart on that out-of-bounds dive: pic.twitter.com/kTIaHxmDug
— Tomek Kordylewski (@Timi_093) May 15, 2025
From there, Boston surged. Kornet, who replaced Kristaps Porziņģis in the lineup at halftime, blocked five shots in the third quarter alone. White, who drilled seven of his 13 3-point attempts, scored 13 of his 34 points in that same quarter. The Celtics, who were tied after a back-and-forth first half, opened a 15-point lead by the end of the third. After falling apart in the second half of all three losses in the series, they never let up.
“This team has been around a long time,” Mazzulla said. “They’ve done stuff together. I think it was just we did what was necessary to do what we needed to do to get back to New York. So we made winning plays on both ends of the floor. Each guy, everybody in that locker room has another layer that they can get to. And they did that as the game went on, and we just have to continue to do that. But it’s a credit to the guys in the locker room that we get another shot to play.”
The Celtics have a history of reaching another level when they absolutely need it. Before a smooth ride to a championship last season, they almost always took the bumpiest playoff path they could find. In 2022, they blew Game 5 of a second-round series against Milwaukee before knocking off the defending champions by winning consecutive elimination games, including one on the road. In the next round that year, Boston lost Game 6 at home to the Heat before knocking out Jimmy Butler and his proud team by capturing Game 7 in Miami. The following season, the Celtics had to come back from a 3-2 second-round deficit against Philadelphia with one of those games on the road. And even though Boston couldn’t complete a 3-0 series comeback against Miami in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals, just forcing a Game 7 was a feat of resilience.
The Celtics had Tatum for all of those defining wins. To capture an elimination game without him, White and Brown needed to deliver in bigger roles. White drained four 3-pointers over the first seven minutes, energizing a crowd that needed a reason to believe. Brown stayed patient and smart during a fine all-around outing of 26 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds. After delivering a message that the Celtics couldn’t quit, he backed up his words by taking on the Brunson assignment, which went to Jrue Holiday early in the series. Mazzulla said Brown’s leadership showed up on the defensive end.
“He was just great on all levels,” Mazzulla said. “Just took it upon himself to guard Brunson, set the tone, and he did that on both ends.”
The Celtics will need more composed basketball from Brown for a chance to come back in this series. On Wednesday, they might have found a couple of other answers. Though Mazzulla said he benched Porziņģis in the second half because he “couldn’t breathe” while dealing with a lingering illness, the insertion of Kornet into the first unit brought life to the Celtics lineup. He finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks off the bench. Boston also used Pritchard for a playoff career-high 39 minutes. With extended playing time for three-guard lineups, the Celtics tried to ramp up the pace.
“Obviously, we played a little bit different,” Pritchard said. “A lot faster tonight. That’s what this group is capable of, especially with the three guards. So that’s what we’ve gotta do.”
Whatever comes next in this series, the Celtics showed their heart on Wednesday after an emotional 48 hours for the organization. Tatum’s injury could have significant ramifications not just on the court over the rest of this season and next season, but in the direction the front office takes this offseason. On a personal level, the players were saddened for their friend, who will now embark on a long rehabilitation process.
“Obviously, it’s tough to see,” White said. “I texted him. And that was kind of all I could do, really, was to text him. Just tell him that we believe in him and he’s going to have a great comeback from this setback. And so there’s really not much I can do, especially at this moment, but I’m gonna support him throughout his whole journey and I know he’s going to do whatever he needs to do to get back out there with us.”
Flattened by Tatum’s injury, the Celtics were eerily quiet in their locker room after their Game 4 loss. Before Game 5, Tatum sent a message to the team saying his surgery went well and that he wished he could be in Boston with the team. Pritchard said hearing from the All-Star helped everyone.
“It was just motivating,” Pritchard said. “He was saying to go out and compete hard and that he’ll be watching and supporting us.”
“Obviously, he’s here for us,” said Sam Hauser, who returned from a sprained ankle to score 6 points. “But he just wanted to see us win.”
The Celtics did that for Tatum. For their pride. For the right to keep playing.
“I know it’s easy to kind of write things off,” Brown said. “Obviously, unfortunate what happened to JT, but we still got basketball to be played. I believe in this group, so don’t count us out just yet.”
“When you see your teammate come down with an injury like that, and it’s obviously devastating for everything he’s put into the game, that can be emotional,” added Pritchard. “But for us, we had to quickly change and try to take care of home court and force it to Game 6. We know our backs are against the wall, so we’re going to lay it all out for ourselves but also him.”
(Photo of Jaylen Brown guarding Jalen Brunson: Bob DeChiara / Imagn Images)