The Boston Celtics locker room isn’t the place to be right now. In Game 4 against the New York Knicks, they were in command. But once again, the defending champions failed to defend a 14-point lead against the resilience of the Knicks. To add salt to their wounds, an exquisite Jayson Tatum performance met a horror end. The charismatic forward suffered a grim injury and had to be helped off the court in the fourth quarter.

The Celtics’ fight from there on was short-lived. The concern for their teammate may have caused a break in their focus. But as they continue to deal with the sorrow of losing Tatum, their focus isn’t hindered. Despite the 3-1 deficit, the reigning champions aren’t surrendering just yet. And as the leader, Jaylen Brown wants the Celtics to attain redemption at the TD Garden.

“Get ready for the next one. get ready to fight, get ready to come out on our home floor and do what we need to do. Um that’s the goal. That’s still the goal. Um we got enough in this locker room. So I believe in my guys,” he told the media after the Game 4 loss.

In his criticism of their performance, Brown didn’t find any faults offensively. And well, it was hard to. Jayson Tatum looked like he had broken out of his slump, going off for 42 points in one of the best playoff performances of his career. The Celtics even hit 18 threes. But defensively, he felt there was “no resistance”.

It’s well known within the Celtics that they are yet to play a great game of basketball as per their standards. Now, not only is fighting the near impossible their motivation, but the team also knows that the best way to honor Tatum is by showing up to compete in Game 5.

“We’re grown, man. you know, obviously it’s tough to see. But who hasn’t had injuries? You know, and it’s a part of this sport, part of this game. We feel for him, of course, but we have to move forward, you know. He don’t want us to be over here, you know, sad and not play our best basketball. So, we’re going to go out there and leave it all out there and live with the result,” Porzingis said on the Celtics’ mindset.

That’s all that’s left to do for the Celtics. Aside from keeping the fire alive, their other choice is to see their season end. However, in doing so, there is one key factor that they will have to fix.

The Celtics need to fight their own urges

Jaylen Brown had every reason to be upset with the defense from the Celtics tonight. The Knicks may not have hit more threes than the Shamrocks. However, they did shoot 54.3% from the field and hit 12 more shots than the Celtics in Game 4. Yet, it all came crashing down in the second half once again.

The Celtics, on the back of Tatum’s spree, had positioned themselves to exact revenge on the Knicks by taking both games at their home. But they couldn’t hold their nerves in the way the Big Apple has throughout the series. In the second half, the Knicks missed just 15 of their 45 attempts from the field.

On the other hand, the Celtics fell into their own trap once again. After hitting half of their threes in the first half, their strategy didn’t change. It led to them shooting just 25% from beyond the arc in the last two quarters. The Knicks capitalized by getting to the rim and going for easy buckets to slash through their deficit.

In all games, one pattern seems to emerge. The Boston Celtics haven’t fallen away from their three-point shooting, no matter the outcome. Their team is packed with masterful athletes such as Jaylen Brown and even Derrick White, who can apply pressure on the rim and diversify their offense.

So far, that hasn’t happened. And if the Celtics have any hopes of making this series competitive, their ideologies will need to change. After an electric first half of shooting, looking to preserve their leads with regular makes will enable them to keep the Knicks at bay. Of course, they also have the potential to shoot the lights out for entire games.

But thus far, that hasn’t happened in any game during this series. And now that they could be without Jayson Tatum, their offense needs to evolve rather than stay stagnant.