Terry assists Celtics with inspiring words

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TORONTOAs much as Jason Terry can be outspoken when talking about the Boston Celtics and his love for the franchise, he has been relatively quiet among his teammates.
Like any sharpshooter, Terry understands that there's a time and place to step up -- for him, it was Wednesday night against Toronto.
And while his game was relatively quiet, his words indeed made a major impact in Boston's 99-95 come-from-behind win.
"Jason doesn't talk a lot, but he let guys know, that's not the way we should play, the way we played for three quarters," said C's coach Doc Rivers.
Terry recognized that the Celtics for the first three quarters on Wednesday, looked a lot like the sub-.500 Celtics club that was going nowhere fast and nothing like the club that came into Wednesday's game having won four straight.
"We fell back into some old tendencies," Terry said. "We weren't moving the ball well. Offensively and defensively, we weren't helping out. And so it's so obvious in watching film of our last four or five games, when we play the right way and play Celtic basketball, it's night and day. When we don't, teams are going to get back in it and we're going to fall back into our old habits.
"It was a wake-up call for us," Terry added. "We didn't play our best game tonight. But we found a way to win by playing the right way."
Playing the right way like most things, is easier said than done.
But the Celtics are realizing that their success has to be a team-wide thing.
Because their individual parts simply aren't enough to get it done with any kind of consistency which is exactly what the Celtics are looking for -- that and a few more wins.
And while all the Celtics know this, every now and then it doesn't hurt to get a reminder like the one Terry provided which as it turned out, might have been the biggest assist of the night for Boston.
"And he (Terry) said it going into the fourth, and the message was simple," Rivers said. "The ball will find the open guy. You don't have to dribble around and create your own shot. We got enough scoring. Space the floor and play together. I think that's what we did."

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