Al Horford makes shocking admission about Celtics’ Game 4 blowout against Mavs

The Boston Celtics entered Game 4 with a chance to finish the season on the throne. However, the exact opposite happened, as the team suffered a 38-point blowout loss at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks. Boston couldn’t find its rhythm throughout the game, and the lack of adjustments could be a reason – according to Al Horford.

After the game, the big man confessed to the Celtics’ lackluster performance.

“For us, we played the first three games, we didn’t really make any adjustments,” Horford said, per Jack Simone of CelticsBlog. “Today they did something. We need to see what we can do (and) how we can be better.

The Celtics fall on Friday

From the start, there were already signs that this was not going to be a good night for Boston. In the first quarter, the Celtics shot 8 of 21 (38.1%) from the floor while hitting 2 of 9 (22.2%) from three-point range. Dallas ended up taking a 13-point lead after the first 12 minutes.

The landslide would continue over the next three quarters. The Celtics struggled to put the ball in the basket, scoring just 14 points in the second half. To make matters worse, they had no answer for Luka Doncic, who already had 25 points at halftime.

It was the same story in the third, as there was no sign of the green and whites escaping. And instead of Luka Doncic, it was Kyrie Irving who continued where his running mate left off. At the end of the quarter, Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla decided to waive the white flag, eliminating his starters for good.

At one point, the Mavericks led by as many as 48. At the end of the game, the final score was 122-84 in favor of the blue jerseys. Boston shot just 36.2 percent from the field while the Mavs made 50.5 percent of their attempts.

Besides the offensive disparity, the Celtics were dominated in other ways as well. Dallas’ defense had a different edge Friday, forcing Boston to commit 13 turnovers. The one-sided rebound also hurt Boston. Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford couldn’t be contained on the boards, as Dallas outscored their opponents, 52-31. Lively, in particular, managed to grab seven offensive rebounds on the Celtics. This led to several extra possessions for the Mavericks – several of which resulted in points.

However, Al Horford is not discouraged. He knows it’s just one game and he knows there’s an opportunity for redemption on Monday.

“Understand it’s a game…(We’ll) make sure we go out and play Celtics basketball (in Game 5).”