The wild reason Jayson Tatum couldn’t address media perfectly fits stunning Celtics’ loss

The fire alarms that blared inside TD Garden served as a fitting second act to the Celtics’ late-game collapse.

BOSTON — Moments after Jaylen Brown completed his Game 2 postgame press conference, sirens began to blare inside TD Garden. Security urged reporters to quickly head for the exits, while players rushed out of their locker rooms to leave the arena.

Dozens of people flooded the parking lot outside North Station. The rest of the postgame media availabilities — including Jayson Tatum’s — were abruptly canceled.

Reporters who have covered the team for over a decade shared that they had never experienced such an evacuation, one occurring smack in the middle of postgame media. The fire trucks that pulled into TD Garden cultivated a scene that certainly felt unprecedented.

After the arena’s doors eventually reopened, TD Garden released an official statement: “No one was injured. The cause of the fire alarm is currently under investigation.”

A fire evacuation concluded a stunning turn of events at TD Garden

The inexplicable sirens and ensuing outside chaos weren’t related to the Celtics’ late-game collapse.

But the scene of reporters who sat crouched on street curbs in a desperate attempt to publish their game stories helped portray a fitting second act to Game 2.

What made the Celtics’ back-to-back defeats so shocking?

Besides for the obvious reason — Boston was heavily favored to win this series — for the second consecutive game, the Celtics led the Knicks by 20 points late in the third quarter.

And just like they did on Monday night, the defending champions blew that sizable lead as a result of a slew of defensive lapses and ice-cold shooting.

In Game 2, after they led the Knicks by 20 with 3:12 left to play in the third quarter, the Celtics turned the ball over 6 times and shot an abysmal 17.9% from the field the rest of the way.

“It sucks really bad right now,” said a deflated Kristaps Porzingis after the game. “But we got a lot of basketball to play.”

Knicks forward Mikal Bridges found his offensive footing hot in the final period, exploding for a game-high 14 fourth-quarter points and willing the Knicks to back within striking distance.

On the other end, Bridges stripped Jayson Tatum on the Celtics’ final possession, and Knicks players darted to center-court to celebrate yet another improbable victory.

“Two games we were up 20 points, and somehow we come out not with wins. It’s inexcusable,” Jaylen Brown said. “But we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to respond.”

For Jayson Tatum’s perspective on the night’s unraveling, fans will have to wait a little bit longer.

The Celtics star, who shot 5-19 from the field in Game 2, didn’t get the chance to address reporters due to the evacuation. That abysmal shooting performance came on the heels of a 7-23 FG performance in Game 1.

Mazzulla acknowledged that Tatum passed up some looks in the series’s second game.

“I think Game 1 wasn’t inefficient, I thought he just missed some really good looks,” Mazzulla said. “I thought [in Game 2], he passed up some ones that he was able to take.”

Still, the Celtics’ season is not over

While the odds are stacked against them — only four teams with home-court advantage in NBA history have come back from a 2-0 deficit — this is a veteran group who finished the season just one game short of having the best road record in NBA history.

“Being down 2-0 sucks, but we got a great group, and if had to select any guys that get it done, it’s the group that we have in our locker room,” Brown said. “We just got to come out a little bit more poised, take a deep breath, convert offensive rebounds — we missed lay-ups, some easy baskets.”

In the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, a similar core led by Mazzulla, Tatum, Brown, and Al Horford clawed their way back from a 3-0 series deficit against the Miami Heat to force a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals.

That near-historic comeback ultimately fell short, but it demonstrated a level of undeniable resilience.

“I take solace in the fact that we have a challenge ahead of us,” Joe Mazzulla said, “and we have a chance to go after it together.”

Moments before the sirens began blaring, a measured Brown said the pain of the harrowing defeat was one everyone would have to embrace.

“Let it sting for a night,” Brown said. “But, tomorrow’s a new day. We move forward.”