Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck is reported to have torn into the team’s players following one of their losses to the Miami Heat in the recent Eastern Conference Finals.
The Heat have advanced to the NBA Finals after going the full seven games in the series and will tip Game 1 off against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night. The South Beach outfit came close to sweeping their conference rivals after going up 3-0, winning their first two games on the road and their first at home.
According to a report from The Athletic, Grousbeck stormed into the team’s locker room after the Game 3 loss and tore into the players, demanding that they “play with some balls.”
The Celtics Pushed Themselves To The Brink Of History
It appears his tirade was effective as Boston rallied back to tie the series up at 3-3 before losing Game 7 at home.
“[Grousbeck] was right, but we shouldn’t need that. As soon as we got to the locker room, we were just so frustrated,” Blake Griffin was quoted as saying.
The Celtics were on the brink of NBA history as no NBA team has ever come back from 3-0. They even had the advantage of being the first team to swing the series back home for the seventh game, with only three teams tying after such a deficit but all playing on the road. Instead, they became the 151st group to try and fail.
