Celtics Comeback Bid Stirs Memories of 2004 Red Sox
The Boston Celtics are hoping to go where the Boston Red Sox have ventured before them—on to the final round after coming back from a three-loss deficit to win a playoff series.
The Celtics have the opportunity to do just that Monday night at TD Garden in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat. They’d be the first NBA team to accomplish the feat.
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Nineteen years ago, the Red Sox became the only MLB team to ever come back from an 0-3 deficit. They did it in the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees. Three games into that series, damage had been assessed, blame distributed and obits written, much like it had been this year for the Celtics. Game 4 was a valiant effort to save face, and by Game 7 momentum had completely shifted. The Red Sox went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals and win their first World Series since 1918.
If the Celtics beat the Heat, they’d still have to knock off the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic to equal the Red Sox. Boston lost last year’s NBA Finals to Golden State in six games, and they won the last of their 16 NBA titles in 2008.
“I actually asked Jason yesterday, ‘Hey, how did you guys pull that off?’” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, referring to Jason Varitek, who was the catcher and captain of those ’04 Red Sox and now a coach for the team.
The Red Sox pitched horribly in the first three games, “and then we executed,” Varitek said, about 2004.
To his point, the Yanks had crushed Boston, 19-7, in Game 3 at Fenway Park. There was the Curse of the Bambino—a remnant of trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919—and a World Series victory drought of 86 years hanging over the proceedings heading into Game 4.
And then the tide and history turned.
Boston trailed the Yanks 3-2 as they began the bottom of the ninth against future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, the best closer in the annals of the game.
Kevin Millar opened the inning with a walk and was replaced at first base by Dave Roberts, who promptly stole second. Bill Mueller singled to center driving in Roberts to tie the score, 3-3. The Red Sox won that game in 12 innings and Game 5 in 14 innings. The final two games at Yankee Stadium were relatively easy wins.
“Even with Mo on the mound, and as bleak as things looked, we felt as if we were still in the game,” said Roberts, who’s steal was the key to the entire turnaround.
“And the [Mueller] hit. That counts, too,” Cora said.
They all count. The Celtics had played lethargic basketball, losing the first three games to the Heat by a combined deficit of 39 points, including a 128-102 blowout in Game 3 at Miami. The turnaround then began.
Game 6 at Miami hinged on a series of plays in the final seconds, culminating in a Derrick White put-back of a Marcus Smart three-pointer as the clock expired for the 104-103 victory.
If the Celtics complete this historic comeback, White’s name will go down with Roberts’ in the lore of Boston sports. Nineteen years later, Roberts, now the long-time Dodgers manager, still says the stolen base was one of his most memorable moments as a player.
“Someone mentions it every day,” Roberts said.
The current Red Sox are paying close attention to what the Celtics are doing. On Saturday night, after a 2-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, Cora traipsed into his office to meet the media, reached for the remote and turned on the basketball game.
On the overhead flatscreen, the Celtics built and then relinquished multiple 10-point, second-half leads. Asked Sunday if he had remained in his office until the game’s exciting conclusion, Cora said: “Hell, yeah. A lot of guys stayed.”
There’s a pride that traverses the fate of Boston’s pro sports teams, Cora added.
“We follow them, man, it’s fun,” Cora said. “I tell [our guys] from the get-go, you have to enjoy the whole experience. This city is different in all due respect to other ones. Watching the Bruins, watching the Celtics is eye-opening, right?”
There are lessons to be learned.
“We just want to be playing baseball in October,” said Cora, who added he’ll be at Game 7, sitting with other Red Sox at the Garden in a luxury suite. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
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