How an ESPN Crimson Sox documentary helped spur the Celtics’ comeback towards the Warmth

Celtics

“It positively left a long-lasting affect for me for not simply this sequence, however all through the remainder of our profession.”

With the Celtics mired in an 0-3 deficit towards the Warmth within the Japanese Convention Finals, Joe Mazzulla and his workers turned to a fan-favorite movie within the Boston sports activities world seeking inspiration.

No, not “The City.” 

Talking simply forward of Monday’s decisive Recreation 7 showdown towards Miami, Mazzulla confirmed that the whole Celtics workforce watched “4 Days in October”, the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary concerning the 2004 Crimson Sox and their unbelievable comeback towards the Yankees within the ALCS.

“Simply the workers’s concept, the assistants,” Mazzulla stated of the workforce’s plan to observe the movie after a Recreation 3 loss to Miami. “I believed it gave perspective. I believed it gave a way of inspiration and hope. Gave us a possibility to battle to be within the place we’re in at the moment.”

The 2004 Crimson Sox had been the primary workforce in MLB historical past to efficiently erase an 0-3 gap in a playoff sequence, surging again to beat New York en path to their first World Collection title in 86 years.

The 2022-23 Celtics want to comply with the same script. If Boston can snuff out the Warmth at TD Backyard on Monday night, they would be the first workforce in NBA historical past to return again down 0-3 and win a playoff spherical.

“It was stunning,” Marcus Sensible stated of watching the documentary, per CLNS video. “It was positively particular to observe, particular to witness. To have the ability to have a possibility to go on the market and have our personal little 2004, so we’ll see.”

Be it phrases of encouragement from ‘04 Sox stalwarts like Kevin Millar and David Ortiz, or Sensible and Jaylen Brown echoing a well-recognized “Don’t allow us to win one” mantra as they’ve climbed out of this deficit, the C’s appear poised to repeat historical past.

Grant Williams, who was simply 5 years outdated when the Crimson Sox orchestrated their comeback towards their Bronx-based nemesis, admitted that he didn’t know a lot about that ‘04 squad earlier than watching “4 Days in October.”

“It simply places a sure stage of fireside to your coronary heart,” Williams stated of the movie. “It’s doable. It’s not solely one thing that’s doable, but it surely’s one thing that we all know that we are able to accomplish as a bunch. We all know that we’re not solely going to compete with each other however we’re additionally going to push each other to our purpose and our success. It positively left a long-lasting affect for me for not simply this sequence, however all through the remainder of our profession.”