Boston, MA
Sunday’s high school scores and highlights
ROUNDUP
TENNIS
Form held in the USTA High School State Boys Tennis Championships as the top four seeds advanced to Monday’s semifinals. Top-seed Lochlan Seth of Newton North defeated Dillon Denny-Brown of Bedford and eighth-seeded Max Ding of Weston, conceding just three games in the two wins. Seth will face third-seeded Tim Vargas of Duxbury, who beat Charles Schepens of Swampscott and sixth-seeded Declan Power of Concord-Carlisle in straight sets.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 4 Connor Liona of Westford Academy easily handled Winston Chan of Brookline and Jay Raj of Melrose in two sets. He will meet second-seeded John Dickens of Milton, who survived a 10-8 super tiebreaker against No. 14 Lachlan McCaghren of Lincoln-Sudbury to reach the quarterfinals, where he had an easier time with fifth-seeded John DeAngelis of St. John’s Prep, 6-4, 6-1.
On the girls side, No. 1 Kyra McCandless of Lexington defeated a pair of seeded players, including her sister Mia, to advance to the semifinals. She will face Grace Zhang of Natick who survived a 10-8 third-set super tiebreaker against Suzanne Pogorelec of Winsor in the Round of 16. In the bottom half of the draw, No. 4 Maya Muhunthan of Acton-Boxboro and second-seeded Bella Gopen of Wellesley each won a pair of matches to advance to Monday’s semifinal.
BASEBALL
Greyson Baldizar went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs as Seekonk edged Somerset Berkley 4-3 in the South Coast Conference.
Tyler Nelson earned his sixth win of the season and EJ Lavalle drove in four runs as Arlington Catholic handled Cardinal Spellman 10-3 in the Catholic Central League.
William Shaheen and Christian Rosa each drove in a pair of runs as St. John’s Prep coasted to an 8-2 nonleague win over Central Catholic.
Brendan Loewen drove in four runs as Georgetown (19-2) won the Bert Spofford Tournament for the first time since 2009, defeating Newburyport, 10-8. The 19 wins this season is also a new school record. … Jack Zimmerman struck out 13 and Nate Cutone drove in a pair of runs as St. Mary’s captured the Mullins Tournament with a 10-4 win over Lynn English. … Ben Workman earned his fourth shutout of the season as Andover blanked Wakefield 10-0 in the finals of the Geanoulis Tournament.
SOFTBALL
Lizzy Bettencourt hit a pair of home runs as Peabody rolled to a 15-3 win over Masconomet in the Northeastern Conference.
Emma Penniman had a three-run homer in the first and picked up the win as Triton (16-4) defeated Wilmington 6-2 in a nonleague contest.
SCORES
BASEBALL
Arlington Catholic 10, Cardinal Spellman 3
Greater Lowell 10, Greater Lawrence 0
Medford 6, Newton South 5
New Bedford 7, Apponequet 1
St. John’s Prep 8, Central Catholic 2
Seekonk 4, Somerset Berkley 3
JIMMY GEANOULIS TOURNAMENT
Ch: Andover 10, Wakefield 0
MULLINS TOURNAMENT
Ch: St. Mary’s 10, Lynn English 4
SPOFFORD TOURNAMENT
Ch: Georgetown 10. Newburyport 8
GIRLS LACROSSE
Stoneham 17, Gloucester 5
SOFTBALL
Marshfield 14, Cohasset 0
Peabody 15, Masconomet 3
Triton 6, Wilmington 2
BOYS TENNIS
MIAA STATEWIDE TOURNAMENT
DIVISION 1
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Tuesday
Haverhill at Braintree, 4
Lynn English at Wachusett, 4
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Wednesday
Chelmsford at Central Catholic, 4
Durfee at Malden, 4
FIRST ROUND – Tuesday
Cambridge at Needham, 3:15
FIRST ROUND – Wednesday
Central Catholic at Wellesley, 4
Framingham at St. John’s, 4
Newton South at Shrewsbury, 4
FIRST ROUND – Thursday
North Andover vs. Westford, 3 (Robinson School)
FIRST ROUND – TBA
Attleboro at Arlington
Barnstable at BC High
Bishop Feehan at Andover
Boston Latin at Winchester
Braintree/Haverhill at Concord-Carlisle
Chelmsford/Catholic Memorial at St. John’s Prep
Franklin at Brookline
Lincoln-Sudbury at Acton-Boxboro
Malden/Durfee at Newton North
Wachusett/Lynn English at Lexington
Xaverian at Belmont
DIVISION 2
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Tuesday
Whitman-Hanson at Algonquin, 4
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Wednesday
Billerica vs. Somerville, 4:30 (Tufts)
FIRST ROUND – Tuesday
Worcester South at Walpole, 4:15
FIRST ROUND – Wednesday
Amherst-Pelham at Hingham, 4:30
FIRST ROUND – Thursday
Masconomet vs. Scituate, 4 (Gates School)
Reading at Marblehead, 5
FIRST ROUND – TBA
Dartmouth at Milton
Grafton at North Quincy
Melrose at Mansfield
Minnechaug at Duxbury
North Attleboro at Burlington
Oliver Ames at Northampton
Plymouth North at Longmeadow
Plymouth South at Somerset Berkley
Shepherd Hill at Hopkinton
Somerville/Billerica at Sharon
Westwood at Wayland
Whitman-Hanson/Algonquin at Westborough
DIVISION 3
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Wednesday
Auburn at Watertown, 4
Groton-Dunstable at Pentucket, 4
Lowell Catholic at Maimonides, 4
Lynn Classical at Whitinsville Christian, 4
Norwell at Falmouth, 4
FIRST ROUND – Wednesday
Norton at Gloucester, 1
Medway at Pioneer Valley Christian, 4
FIRST ROUND – Thursday
Dighton-Rehoboth vs. Medfield, 3 (Metacomet Park)
FIRST ROUND – TBA
Belchertown at Old Rochester
Cape Cod Academy at North Reading
Dedham at Newburyport
East Longmeadow at Wilmington
Falmouth/Norwell at Bedford
Foxboro at Pope Francis
Groton-Dunstable/Pentucket at Weston
Hanover at Dover-Sherborn
Latin Academy at Marlboro
Lowell Catholic/Maimonides at Martha’s Vineyard
Lynn Classical/Whitinsville Christian at Apponequet
Nauset at Wakefield
Watertown/Auburn at Swampscott
DIVISION 4
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Wednesday
Mashpee at Turners Falls, 4:30
FIRST ROUND – Tuesday
Monument Mountain at Sutton, 4
FIRST ROUND – Wednesday
Rockport vs. Monomoy, 3 (Brooks Park)
Hampden Charter at Ipswich, 3:30
Stoneham vs. Hamilton-Wenham, 4:30 (Pingree)
FIRST ROUND – Thursday
Nantucket at Frontier, 1
West Bridgewater vs. PV Chinese, 3 (Hampshire)
FIRST ROUND – Friday
Mt. Greylock vs. Lenox, 4:30 (Lenox CC)
FIRST ROUND – TBA
Amesbury at Fairhaven
Hopedale at Bromfield
Leicester at Littleton
Mashpee/Turners Falls at Lynnfield
Mt. Everett at Lee
Quaboag at Cohasset
Seekonk at Sturgis West
Springfield International at Manchester-Essex
Westport at Mystic Valley
USTA High School State Tennis Championships at Wayland
Third Round
Lochlan Seth (Newton North) (1) def. Dillon Denny-Brown (Bedford), 6-1, 6-1
Max Ding (Weston) (8) def. Charlie Lankow (Cohasset), 6-3, 6-3
Tim Vargas (Duxbury) (3) def. Charles Schepens (Swampscott), 6-3. 6-0
Declan Power (Concord-Carlisle) (6) def. Krish Gupta (Shrewsbury), 6-2, 6-0
Jay Raj (Melrose) def. Jack Prokopis (St. John’s Prep), 7-5, 6-0
Connor Liona (Westford Academy) (4) def. Winston Chan (Brookline), 6-1, 6-2
John DeAngelis (St. John’s Prep) (5) def. Luke Free (St. John’s Prep) (12), 7-5, 6-2
John Dickens (Milton) (2) def. Lachlan McCaghren (Lincoln-Sudbury) (14), 6-4, 4-6, 10-8
Quarterfinals
Seth def. Ding, 6-0, 6-1
Vargas def. Power, 6-1, 6-2
Liona def. Raj, 6-1, 6-2
Dickens def. DeAngelis, 6-4, 6-1
GIRLS TENNIS
MIAA STATEWIDE TOURNAMENT
DIVISION 1
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Tuesday
Diman at Hopkinton, 4
Medford at Taunton, 4
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Wednesday
Bridgewater-Raynham at Cambridge, 4
Durfee at Franklin, 4
Everett at Central Catholic, 4
Haverhill at Natick, 4
King Philip vs. Wachusett, 4 (Marlboro)
Revere vs. Malden, 4 (Amerige Park)
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Thursday
Peabody at North Andover, 4
FIRST ROUND – Wednesday
Algonquin at Needham, 3:15
Shrewsbury at Bishop Feehan, 3:30
Waltham at Newton North, 3:45
Plymouth North at Arlington, 4
FIRST ROUND – Friday
Braintree at Andover, 4
FIRST ROUND – TBA
Beverly at Lincoln-Sudbury
Bridgewater-Raynham/Cambridge at Lexington
Central Catholic/Everett at Concord-Carlisle
Franklin/Durfee at Belmont
Hopkinton/Diman at Acton-Boxboro
Malden/Revere at Winchester
Methuen at Brookline
Natick/Haverhill at Newton South
North Andover/Peabody at Boston Latin
Taunton/Medford at Westford Academy
Wachusett/King Philip at Wellesley
DIVISION 2
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Tuesday
West Springfield at East Longmeadow, 3
Shepherd Hill at Nashoba, 4
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Wednesday
Somerville at South, 2:30
Archbishop Williams vs. North Quincy, 4 (Bishop Field TC)
Chicopee Comp. at Walpole, 4
Leominster at Dartmouth, 4
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Thursday
Worcester North vs. Reading, 4 (Reading TC)
FIRST ROUND – Wednesday
Bedford vs. Scituate, 3 (Gates School)
FIRST ROUND – Thursday
Melrose at Marblehead, 2:30
Wakefield at North Attleboro, 3:45
Amherst-Pelham at Sharon, 4
FIRST ROUND – Friday
Ludlow at Minnechaug, 5
FIRST ROUND – TBA
Dartmouth/Leominster at Duxbury
East Longmeadow/West Springfield at Notre Dame (Hingham)
Holliston at Burlington
Middleboro at Ursuline
Nashoba/Shepherd Hill at Masconomet
Northampton at Milton
North Quincy/Archbishop Williams at Westborough
Reading/North at Wayland
South/Somerville at Longmeadow
Walpole/Chicopee Comp. at Hingham
Westwood at Bishop Stang
DIVISION 3
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Wednesday
Tantasqua at Auburn, 2:30
Hudson at Triton, 4
Lowell Catholic at Foxboro, 4
Whitinsville Christian at Nauset, 4
FIRST ROUND – Wednesday
Tewksbury at Hanover, 3:25
Groton-Dunstable at Dennis-Yarmouth, 4
Martha’s Vineyard at Danvers, 4
FIRST ROUND – Friday
Fairhaven at Medfield, 2 (Metacomet Park)
FIRST ROUND – TBA
Apponequet at Cape Cod Academy
Auburn/Tantasqua at Pembroke
Falmouth at Norwell
Foxboro/Lowell Catholic at Weston
Medway at Old Rochester
Notre Dame (Worcester) at Dover-Sherborn
Pentucket at Belchertown
St. Mary’s (Westfield) at Watertown
Swampscott at Latin Academy
Triton/Hudson at Wilmington
Wareham at North Reading
Whitinsville Christian/Nauset at Newburyport
DIVISION 4
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Wednesday
Mohawk Trail at Case, 4
Greenfield at Winthrop, 4
PRELIMINARY ROUND – Thursday
Hamden East at PV Chinese Immersion, 3
FIRST ROUND – Wednesday
Abington at Lenox, 2:30
Leicester at Palmer, 3:30
Mashpee vs. Millis, 4 (Medway)
Randolph vs. Quabbin, 4 (Gardner)
Rockport vs. Monomoy, 5:30 (Brooks Park)
FIRST ROUND – Thursday
AMSA at Sutton, 3:30
Bourne at Ipswich, 4
FIRST ROUND – Friday
Hamden East/PVCI vs. Hamilton-Wenham, 4:30 (Pingree)
FIRST ROUND – TBA
Amesbury at Cohasset
South Hadley at Hopedale
Lee at Mt. Greylock
Tyngsboro at Nantucket
Case/Mohawk Trail at Manchester-Essex
Winthrop/Greenfield at Lynnfield
Sturgis East at Quabbin
Clinton at Bromfield
USTA High School State Tennis Championships at Wayland
Third Round
Kyra McCandless (Lexington) (1) def. Kiera Delima (Framingham) (12), 6-1, 6-3
Mia McCandless (Lexington) (10) def. Halina Nguyen (Boston Latin) (7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)
Suzanne Pogorelec (Winsor) (3) def. Olivia Gilbert (Marshfield) (14), 6-4, 6-4
Grace Zhang (Natick) (8) def. Kimberly Tai (Wellesley) (9), 6-3, 6-2
Julia Bae (Chestnut Hill) (6) def. Ananya Rao (Acton-Boxboro), 6-3, 6-2.
Maya Muhunthan (Acton-Boxboro) (4) def. Vanessa Vu (Boston Latin) (11), 6-3, 7-5
Phoebe Xiaoyao Jiang (Lexington) (5) def. Nicole Makarewicz (Pembroke) (15), 6-1, 6-2
Bella Gopen (Wellesley) (2) def. Emma Jani (Hamilton-Wenham) (13), 6-3, 6-1
Quarterfinals
K. McCandless def. M. McCandless, 6-1, 6-0
Zhang def. Pogorelec, 1-6, 6-4, 10-8
Muhunthan def. Bae, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1
Gopen def. Jiang, 6-2, 7-5
Boston, MA
Boston Common Frog Pond spray pool opens June 25 – Caught In Dot
Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods, and The Skating Club of Boston are pleased to welcome children and their caregivers to kick off the 2024 summer wading season as the Boston Common Frog Pond spray pool reopens on Tuesday, June 25.
The wading pool opening is made possible by title sponsor Bank of America and presenting sponsor H.P. Hood LLC. The event will include an exciting celebration at 11 a.m. followed by the opening of the spray pool.
In addition to activities from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., residents can enjoy tasty treats and a visit from official mascot Frog Pond Freddie. LEGO® Discovery Center Boston will be on site with giveaways and a LEGO brick pit for free building with LEGO experts.
Enjoy sparkling water from Polar Beverages, local farm fresh milk from the New England Dairy Council, frozen treats from H.P. Hood LLC, and sample water flavoring packets from Cirkul. Residents can also try our instrument ‘petting zoo’ courtesy of the Boston Music Project and visit the team from PROJECT Melanoma for summer sun safety tips.
Also offering giveaways and activities will be Mass Audubon, the Boston Public Library Chinatown Branch, the Boston Public Health Commission, Science for Scientists, and the Boston Water and Sewer Commission’s popular water truck. For more information visit www.boston.gov/frogpond.
A year-round recreational facility, the Frog Pond offers ice skating in the winter, a spray pool and supervised wading for youth in the summer, and the Carousel from spring through fall. Information on additional activities offered at the Frog Pond can be found by visiting www.bostonfrogpond.com.
The Frog Pond spray pool is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Labor Day. The facility is managed by The Skating Club of Boston and staffed by youth workers from the Boston Youth Fund. For further information, please call the Frog Pond at (617) 635-2120.
To stay up to date with news, events, and design and construction work in Boston Parks, sign up for our email list at bit.ly/Get-Parks-Emails and follow our social channels @bostonparksdept on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Boston, MA
After 50 years in New York, Yankees broadcaster Suzyn Waldman still ‘Bleeds Green’
For most people associated with the New York Yankees, Boston – Fenway Park, in particular – is enemy territory.
But for Suzyn Waldman, one of baseball’s most iconic voices as a longtime member of the Yankees’ broadcasting team, it’s still home. The Yankees mainstay was born in Newton and graduated from Simmons College with a degree in economics. That the school was a stone’s throw from the cathedral she lovingly described to the New York Times as “a little green jewelry box” in 1993 wasn’t the deciding factor, but it certainly helped.
“I went to Simmons because my mother went to Simmons,” Waldman told the Herald on Sunday. “I was a special student at the New England Conservatory of Music, and I was doing shows at MIT and Harvard, and also, it was across the street from Fenway Park.”
She managed to juggle academics, performing, and a heavy extracurricular schedule: the Red Sox’s. “I just went every day to Fenway Park. I went every day in ‘67, sat in the bleachers,” she said.
Waldman then moved to New York to pursue a career in theater. But in hindsight, the baseball gods were sending her signs that she was headed down a different path.
“First show I did in New York was ‘No, No, Nanette!’ I was in the chorus,” she said. Mention that name around Red Sox fans at your own risk: it’s the musical version of the play Harry Frazee financed with the money he got from selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919.
On Friday evening, baseball’s greatest rivalry was scheduled to meet for the first time this season, and the Celtics and Mavericks were set to play Game 4 in Dallas. Waldman showed up for work with a dark-green sequined top under her blazer. Around her neck hung two necklaces: a Jewish star with lapis lazuli, and a small gold Celtics logo pendant, which had belonged to her grandfather.
Yes, Waldman still bleeds green.
“My dad took me to the basketball games. You knew everybody, like here, when I was a little girl, I knew everyone in the section. The same people were there all the time,” Waldman continued, gesturing towards the baseball diamond. “But in the Boston Garden, it was different. It wasn’t the same kind of fervor at the time. The place was empty, and Red would yell when he coached. And so I got to learn my basketball listening to Red Auerbach coach (Bob) Cousy, (Bill) Sharman, (Bill) Russell, (Tommy) Heinsohn, and (Frank) Ramsey.”
Auerbach was loud and fiery, and in an arena rarely even half-full during the regular season, everyone could hear him coaching his players at full volume. He wouldn’t yell at Russell or Cousy, so if he wanted to get on them about something, he’d shout at players in their vicinity, like Heinsohn.
“I remember him (talking) about the corner: ‘You’re guarded by three, not one, get out of that corner!’” Waldman chuckled. “Red used to say, ‘There’s eight plays, there’s 48 variations on the eight plays.’”
“You’d also notice things like, when Red thought the game was over, when he’d light his cigar, because he thought it was over. I loved to watch that,” she recalled.
The original Boston Garden was a place where a young Waldman felt hopeful about a future that was more diverse and accepting than the present. The world could be a better place, if only it was more like the Celtics, who were breaking down racial barriers.
“You always thought back then, that if the world were the Boston Celtics, with the first Black coach and all-Black starting five, that this is what we thought things could be like,” she said of the historic 1964 squad. “A lot of us who went to those games actually, that’s what we thought. How things could be, it could all be like the Celtics.”
Boston’s basketball team would shape Waldman’s life in a plethora of ways. Legendary Celtics radio man Johnny Most was her idol.
“There’s a lot of Johnny Most in me, because it’s emotion, and it’s radio, and it’s how people felt,” she said. “Red told Johnny, ‘I want you to teach the city of Boston basketball,’ and when you grow up listening to Johnny Most, there’s something that gets inside of you.”
When Waldman was preparing to embark upon her own sportscasting career, she called in a favor.
“The first interview I ever did when I was trying to get ready to do this, Ken Coleman was one of my best friends, and he called up Tommy Heinsohn,” she said. “And I drove to Tommy Heinsohn’s house with a tape recorder! I was talking about when I was a little girl, and he was telling me the greatest stories.”
It’s no longer weird for Waldman to have gone from one side of the Boston-New York rivalry to the other. “It was, but it went away pretty fast, I’ve been in New York over 50 years, and Ted Williams isn’t on that team,” she said.
There is, however, one very big exception.
“The only time it gets me is when I walk back into this place. Because nothing’s changed. It’s all changed, but nothing’s changed,” Waldman said. “The same ramp that I used to walk in with my grandfather, it’s there. So here, it bothers me. Because when I come back into Fenway Park, I’m three, holding my grandfather’s hand, and that doesn’t go away.”
Nor has her affection for the Celtics.
“I keep up with them. If they’re on and I’m home, I’ll watch. I love listening to Sean (Grande),” she said. “The last round, when he was talking about how (the Celtics) play with their food, it was pure Johnny, it really was. It was so emotional, but so right-on, about this team that’s been maligned and all that. What did he say? ‘They’re going to two places where they belong: home, and to the Finals.’ He said it a lot better, but it was perfect.”
However, while parts of Boston still feel like home for Waldman, you’ll never catch her at TD Garden.
“I won’t go to the new Garden. I’ve never been, I won’t go,” she said. “Because I saw my first circus there, I saw President Kennedy speak there. The old one, it’s just, it’s too much, it’s too flooded with memories.
“I’m not great at ‘Bests,” she said. “If someone asks me, what’s the greatest Yankee thing I saw, out of my mouth will be, ‘The look on Derek Jeter’s face when he looked at his mother when he had his 3,000th hit.’ But I can’t remember a great play here and there, because that’s not what gets me. I know it’s part of sports, but that’s not what I remember. You remember the feelings. You remember the feeling of sitting with your father.”
Especially at Fenway.
“I always say everything I’ve ever done in sports is because I grew up in this town and went to Fenway.”
Boston, MA
A second-chance shot at the Finals clincher presents itself to the Celtics. Will they score? – The Boston Globe
Yet, just because the Celtics are at home does not automatically equate playing better or the Mavericks succumbing to make this a neat and convenient story line. Boston will have to earn this win with perhaps its best performance of the season.
The Mavericks have little to lose because they are expected to lose.
No prognosticator picked Dallas to win the championship when the season began. The Mavericks are the underdogs. They are loose, knowing every victory they steal puts more pressure on the favored Celtics. This indeed has turned into a mind game.
Boston wants a title, it needs a title. The city can taste it.
“I don’t look at it as pressure,” Tatum said Sunday before practice. “I do notice, especially this time of the season, playoff time and obviously being in the Finals for the second time, when you drive around and go to the gas station, or I wanted to go get some ice cream yesterday, it’s Celtics gear everywhere and everybody is super excited about this team and what we have accomplished and what we have the chance to accomplish. You really just feel the love and support from everybody in the city of Boston, and how bad they want us to win, how much they have been cheering for us.
“So I don’t look at it as pressure. Just unconditional support, and that we have an amazing fan base here.”
The hunger is there, the players say, although it didn’t appear that way Friday. After saying they had to play like the more desperate team in Game 4 even though they weren’t, the Celtics played about six good minutes before they relented to the team that was really desperate.
There’s something to playing with zero expectations and the Mavericks have embraced that role. They are highly unlikely to come back from a 3-0 deficit. No team has done that in 156 tries, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cause angst and discomfort for their opponent in the process.
“Sometimes when you do play an opponent over and over, you get used to the tendencies and you start to capitalize on that on both ends, defensively and offensively,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “Hopefully our group has seen enough of Boston to understand what they are good at, and hopefully we can take that away (Monday) night.”
Monday will be the most difficult game of the Celtics’ careers because it’s the most significant. But it’s also important to remember they still hold the advantage. A team that hasn’t lost more than two games in a row all season would have to lose four consecutive games to lose this series. But there has to be a better sense of urgency than in Game 4. The Celtics have to feed into the crowd’s enthusiasm, play a more disciplined and passionate game, and let their talents and coaching take over.
“We have a great group, resilient group, and we don’t like to lose,” Brown said. “We do our best to prepare each and every night, each and every game, and we look forward to the next game on the schedule. I think we are ready for Game 5. I think that’s the best answer that I got. I think that we’re ready. We’re at home, and we’re looking forward to it.
“This is what we all work for. We are at the precipice of completing what we set out to do at the beginning of the season. So I think it’s not difficult to get everybody in that locker room on the same page right now. It just needs to remind everybody that it’s just one possession at a time. We do it together and we fight like our lives depends on it, and I think we’ll be all right.”
The Celtics lacked that fight in Game 4 and they can no longer take these games for granted. These chances to clinch are rare and they have to play their hardest, if not their best. That’s all this fan base can request. The Celtics owe their fans their best effort and an increased sense of urgency because they have a chance to achieve a career-defining accomplishment.
“[Coach] Joe [Mazzulla] did a great job today of reminding us that it’s okay to smile during wars,” Tatum said. “It’s OK to have fun during high-pressure moments. That’s what makes our team unique and special. We would love to win (Monday), more than anything. But if it doesn’t happen, it’s not the end of the world. We have more opportunities. So just setting that table of don’t surrender to that idea that we have to win tomorrow. We would love to, absolutely. But Game 5 is the biggest game of the season because it’s the next game on the schedule.
“So going with that mind-set, and just have fun. That’s really what we talked about today. Get back to having fun and being a team and how special we are and the team that got us here.”
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.
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