New York, May 20: Boston Celtics guard Terry Rozier believes his side will be better for their game three "butt whooping" at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.
The Celtics had been in control of the NBA Eastern Conference finals after two games, but their lead was cut to 2-1 following a 116-86 humbling in Cleveland.
LeBron James was the star of the show with 27 points and 12 assists for the Cavs, and Rozier thinks the heavy defeat can act as a wake-up call to take into the rest of the series, starting with game four on Monday.
"We needed to get our butts whooped, come back to reality and take care of business on Monday," Rozier said.
"I feel like we needed this to get us back, to get us ready for Monday."
Al Horford also feels this result can be beneficial, claiming that the Celtics are learning from every game they play in the postseason.
"It's for us to learn from this," Horford said. "It's what we've been preaching all playoffs: good or bad, we're learning from the experiences.
"We're moving on and it just shows that, when you don't bring it as a team and you don't play the way you're supposed to play, these kind of things can happen.
The Celtics fall to the Cavaliers 116-86 in Game 3 to make it a 2-1 series. Tatum: 18pts (6-10 FG); Rozier: 13pts; Monroe/Brown: 10pts apiece. pic.twitter.com/bAqJAwuKza
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 20, 2018
"At the same time, you've got to give Cleveland credit. They played better. They were the better team."
And coach Brad Stevens is now pondering how to shuffle a tired pack ahead of game four.
"We were clearly not as good as we had been," he said. "We were going to have to steal minutes with some guys.
"Right now, with the way that they're playing, we're going to need some other guys to be ready to go come Monday."
Source: OPTA