Boston Celtics, knowing 'a lot of great basketball is still in front of us,' confident after Game 4 loss

SAN FRANCISCO — The Boston Celtics know that, once again, they failed to take advantage of securing home court by dropping Game 4 of the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

But as the series shifts back here to Chase Center for Game 5 on Monday night with the Finals now turning into a best-of-3 affair for the NBA title, Boston remains confident it can once again secure the road win it needs to get the job done.

«You can take positives out of anything,» Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said. «Obviously, I think we can be in a better position than we're in, but we're not. It's 2-2. Still, nothing to hang your head about. A lot of great basketball is still in front of us. We take our mistakes and learn from them and you apply it as best you can going forward. I still think we are in a great spot.

»I'm excited to see how we respond over the next couple of days. I mean, it's exciting. It's the biggest stage in the world. I'll take our group, our guys, versus anybody. So I'm looking forward to it."

There's plenty of reason for Brown to feel optimistic about Boston's chances against the Warriors. Yes, the Celtics will have to win at least one more road game to win the NBA title, but they have — so far in these playoffs — had more success away from home than playing at TD Garden. Entering Game 5, the Celtics are 8-3 in road games in this postseason — compared to going just 6-5 at home.

And, on top of that, Boston has won all seven games it has played after a loss so far in these playoffs — and has gone 13-1 in such games since the Celtics began turning their season around in late January.

«We obviously put ourselves in the position to stretch the lead and be up 3-1,» Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. «But bottom