What do the Celtics need to do to win Game 5?

After a late 107-97 defeat in Game 4 of the NBA Finals Friday, the Boston Celtics return to San Francisco Monday night for another matchup against the Golden State Warriors. The series is tied 2-2, and the Celtics will have to regain some momentum to bring home the championship to Boston for the first time since the 2007-08 season. GBH News reporter Esteban Bustillos joined hosts Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel on GBH’s Morning Edition to discuss what the Celtics need to do to make it happen. This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Paris Alston: This is GBH's Morning Edition. Well, the Celtics and Warriors are tied up in the NBA finals at two games apiece. It makes for a good series, but some stressful viewing. That game Friday night was a nail-biter right at the end there. As the team heads back to San Francisco for Game 5 tonight, we'll take a minute to check in with GBH's Esteban Bustillos, who's been following the Cs throughout all of the playoffs. Good morning, Esteban.

Esteban Bustillos: Good morning, Paris. Good morning, Jeremy.

Jeremy Siegel: So the series is tied. It's a little disappointing that the Celtics gave away the advantage while they were here. You can hear sound here of Warriors fans chanting at the Garden on Friday at the Warriors.

Alston: On their home court.

Siegel: Brave souls there. The good news at this point is the Cs have not had a back-to-back loss in the playoffs. The bad news, obviously, is that the series is tied now. What happened in this last game?

Bustillos: Steph Curry?

Alston: 'With the shot,' I'm hearing that Drake line just ringing.

Bustillos: You know, he had 43 points, 10 assists. It was an amazing classic performance for him. I think maybe besides him, one of the things that stood out the most is in the last five minutes, the Celtics had three points. Golden State had 17. It's hard to win a basketball game when that happens. And to the point about Steph Curry, everybody knows who he is. He's been having an incredible series. And it's it's tough to beat him and even Jaylen Brown, and you can hear him talk about how — it's almost simple, but he's just very, very, very good.

[previously recorded]

Jaylen Brown: Yeah, Steph Curry is really good, if you guys haven't noticed, yeah, he can shoot the ball unbelievably. You know, even watching it, playing against him, and even in the finals, I feel like he's taking it up a notch a little bit. He had a hell of a performance in Game 4 and we gotta respond to that. We've got to do even more of a better job.

[recording ends]

Alston: News flash: Steph Curry is really good.

Siegel: I love how blunt he is there.

Alston: Esteban, I watched the game Friday and I was just so stressed out in those last five minutes. Because they had the lead, they had the game, and then it all kind of fell apart. So if you were to pick one word about the team's performance against the Warriors so far, what would it be?

Bustillos: One word? Maybe "inconsistent," because, Game 1, they're great. Game 2, they struggle. Game 3, great again, Game 4 — three points in the last five minutes. But that's just the nature of the finals. It's hard to win. It's hard to win, especially against a team like Golden State that is as talented as they are. If winning was easy, everybody would be a champion. But that's just how it is.

Siegel: So last time that the Cs did have a win, I was decked out in Cs gear in our studio. I've got my Celtics hat here, which I will be wearing today. Last time I did wear that, Esteban, you tweeted out a picture of me next to Lucky the Leprechaun.

Alston: Your doppelgänger.

Siegel: I’ve got to say, the resemblance is truly uncanny.

Alston: And as Esteban noted, we have not seen the two of you in the same room.

Siegel: That's my second job. That's what I'm doing to make sure the Cs win. What did the Cs need to do to get the W tonight?

Bustillos: I think one of the other things that was pointed out is they were out-rebounded by the Warriors. That's just a huge thing. They’ve got to secure more rebounds, they’ve got to keep playing more physically. Scoring-wise, that's just been an issue. Coach Ime Udoka even talked about it in his press conference yesterday — the Warriors more or less have been scoring about the same number of points each game. When the Celtics win, they'll score really high. But when they lose, they'll score around 100 points.

So I think if the Celtics can figure out what they're going to do to score on the offensive side of the ball, they'll be fine. But again, it's easier said than done. And even yesterday, you can hear Jayson Tatum, you know, he's talked about, even with the struggles that they had, they've been here before. So I think he sounds pretty confident about their chances more forward.

[previously recorded]

Jayson Tatum: You know, we've been here before as a third time in a row. I feel like we've been here. So we know what it takes. We know what we have to do, and pay attention to detail, and things like that. And I'm confident, like I've been in the playoffs, confident in the fact that we'll respond and play better, you know, for majority of the game.

[recording ends]

Alston: How confident are you, Esteban, that that will happen? I mean, like you said, we have been here before and they usually end up going to Game 7 and pulling it off. I guess we can't completely predict that, but that's wishful thinking on my end.

Bustillos: It's interesting. Neither team has lost back-to-back this whole playoffs. So following that pattern, that would mean the Celtics would win. But if you also follow that pattern, that means they would lose Game 6. And then we'll go back to Game 7. Like you said, you can't really predict it. I would expect them to at least get one more win. I don't think they are going to get swept, either tonight or back in Game 6 at TD Garden. But again, we'll have to see. They had a chance to go up 3-1 on Friday night. They couldn't pull that off. And now, the job is much harder. But again, that's the nature of the finals. It's not easy to win.

Siegel: You've been covering these games, at home, you obviously haven't been in the Bay Area. But, you know, thinking about the fact that they have seen finals there in San Francisco. But here at the Garden, this is something we haven't seen in a long time. What sort of difference is it for the teams, being in these two different places, especially keeping in mind how, crucial a win tonight could be?

Bustillos: I think it's interesting. Home court advantage has been odd, because the Celtics have been winning more on the road than they have at home. So if they can pull off one more win on the road — and they'll have to pull off one more win to win the series — they'll do fine. And they seem to be comfortable there, maybe even more so than they are here at TD Garden.