Jayson Tatum, Al Horford speak out after Celtics’ playoff collapse

BOSTON — Due to an unlikely TD Garden fire evacuation on Wednesday night, Jayson Tatum didn’t get the chance to speak to reporters after the Celtics’ 91-90 Game 2 loss to the Knicks.

But the Celtics star, who has made just 12 of 42 shot attempts across two playoff losses to the Knicks, took responsibility for his struggles at practice on Thursday afternoon.

“I take full ownership of the way that I’ve played in this series,” Tatum said calmly at the Auerbach Center podium. “I can’t sugar coat anything. I need to be better. And, I expect to be a lot better.”

Tatum had a chance to win the game for Boston with the ball in his hands and the clock winding down, but he instead dribbled into traffic. Knicks guard Mikal Bridges came away with the game-winning steal, and the Knicks rejoiced on the Garden parquet.

“I just made the wrong read,” he said. “Went into a crowded area. Obviously, if I had that opportunity again, or the next time it presented itself, it’d have a different outcome.

Joe Mazzulla credited Tatum for taking responsibility for his struggles, but said that the blame extended far beyond one person.

“I appreciate the fact that he would do that, but I think it’s on everybody,” Mazzulla said. “We all could be better. I could be better in the things that I can help our team execute, our entire team could be better. And yeah, he can too. So, just as he is taking responsibility for that, I expect him to be better.”

Al Horford, meanwhile, said that he’s had plenty of conversations with Tatum through the series, as is customary, but he said he’d keep those between the two longtime friends rather than share them with the media.

Where do the Celtics go from here?

The urgency level was high after Thursday’s practice.

“We have to go into Saturday’s game and win the game,” Mazzulla said about 48 hours ahead of Game 1. “That’s just the way it is. We have to win. We have to win. We have to do what it takes to win. We have to put ourselves in a position to do that.”

But, perhaps to the ire of fans, the Celtics won’t reinvent the wheel.

Despite making just 25 of 100 three-point attempts in the series, they won’t lose confidence in their ability to shoot from the outside.

“We have a way that we play,” Tatum said. “We have an identity. And it can’t waver just because we’re missing shots. We can’t change who we are.”

The fourth quarter, in particular, was littered with missed open shots — Al Horford, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown all badly missed clean threes. Brown and Horford missed some mid-range looks, and White even missed a layup tip-in. The Celtics made just 5 of 24 shots from the field, and 2 of 11 three-point attempts.

Payton Pritchard, who checked out of the game with 6:39, was responsible for the Celtics’ only two fourth-quarter treys.

“A lot of the shots that we got – we got some really, really good looks from three,” Tatum said. “We missed a lot of bunnies, a lot of layups. Those are tough, because guys work really hard on their game, and their craft, and prepare to be in those moments to hit open shots.”

Few expected the Celtics to be trailing 2-0 to the Knicks.

But, internally, the message centers around humility.

“You can’t just have a pride and entitlement that we’re holier than thou, that we’re not allowed to be down 0-2,” Mazzulla said. “It’s the situation that we’re in. So we have to have an understanding of why we’re in it, and we gotta fix it.”

Mazzulla said he relished the journey the Celtics have in front of them.

“These moments are all forgotten if you transition them into taking advantage of the opportunity that you have. If you don’t, then you have to use it as an opportunity for the journey that you’re on.”

Horford smiled when asked about the chance to come back from an 0-2 deficit: “I’m excited about the opportunity that we have.”