It didn’t take lengthy Saturday for the Boston Celtics to seek out their capturing stroke.
Three possessions into Recreation 3 in opposition to the Knicks at Madison Sq. Backyard, Jayson Tatum discovered an open Al Horford for the Celtics’ first 3-pointer.
Three possessions later, Jaylen Brown got here off of a Horford display screen and drilled one other.
Lower than two minutes after that, Tatum discovered area thanks to a different Horford display screen and made a 3-pointer of his personal.
That was simply the beginning.
The three-point struggles that doomed the defending champion Celtics of their blown-lead losses in Video games 1 and a pair of vanished right away as they blew out the Knicks, 115-93, in Recreation 3.
And now the Knicks’ lead within the best-of-seven playoff sequence is all the way down to 2-1.
“They’re down 2-0, and you knew they were going to come out with a sense of urgency, a sense of desperation,” Knicks guard Josh Hart stated. “That’s something that we should have done a better job with.”
Boston completed 20-of-40 (50%) on 3-point makes an attempt after making solely 25-of-100 (25%) by way of the primary two video games of the second-round sequence.
All 5 Celtics starters made at the very least two 3-pointers Saturday, whereas Payton Pritchard shot 5-of-10 from deep en path to a team-high 23 factors off the bench.
It was a far cry from Video games 1 and a pair of, when the Celtics went a mixed 4-of-26 on 3-point makes an attempt in these fourth quarters. The Knicks erased 20-point second-half deficits in each video games to drag off a pair of instant-classic victories.
“We watched areas where we can clean up a little bit, but it was really just being more confident and just letting it fly,” Pritchard stated after Recreation 3.
“Don’t second guess a good shot. You come off a ball screen [and] it’s there? Who cares what the outside world is saying. ‘We shoot too many threes.’ Everybody’s saying that. But if you believe in your shot and you’re able to hit it, then take it confidently.”
The Celtics made their first 4 3-point makes an attempt and completed 6-of-7 from deep within the first quarter, serving to them bounce out to a 36-20 lead.
That lead grew to 71-46 at halftime after the Celtics shot 12-of-19 from behind the arc by way of two quarters.
Hart acknowledged the Knicks’ pick-and-roll protection was “not what it should have been” to start out the sport, saying they wanted to be extra bodily and aggressive.
“They got some clean looks early,” head coach Tom Thibodeau stated. “They see it go in. That gives them confidence, and it’s hard to shut them off. We have to have greater awareness.”
Tatum, who shot simply 28.6% within the first two video games, went 8-of-20 from the sphere, together with 5-of-9 on 3-point makes an attempt. He completed with 22 factors after enduring a lot of the criticism for the Celtics’ losses in Video games 1 and a pair of.
The Knicks, in the meantime, shot simply 5-of-25 on 3-pointers, together with 2-of-17 by way of the primary three quarters. Coming into the fourth, the Celtics had scored 48 factors from behind the 3-point line, in comparison with the Knicks’ six.
“They were 20-of-40 from three, so it’s about all I can say,” stated Jalen Brunson, who led the Knicks with 27 factors on 9-of-21 capturing. “There’s a lot to discuss tomorrow and figure out. But we need to play with more of a sense of urgency.”
The Knicks trailed by as many as 31 factors and by no means minimize the deficit to beneath 20 within the second half.
They by no means led.
“I don’t think we came with the mindset of being satisfied, but I think it was subconsciously satisfied with being up 2-0,” Brunson stated. “But it’s not what we need to approach the game.”
Karl-Anthony Cities completed with 21 factors and 15 rebounds, however he shot 5-of-18 from the sphere and injured his non-shooting left hand when he was fouled by Jrue Vacation on a second-quarter floater. Cities, who remained within the recreation and performed 36 minutes, declined to specify whether or not he underwent an X-ray.
Requested afterward concerning the social-media lip-readers who thought Cities stated on the courtroom that he broke one thing, the Knicks heart replied, “It is what it is. I’m gonna keep finding ways to play, so I ain’t tripping.”
OG Anunoby didn’t rating till the 7:21 mark of the third quarter and completed with two factors on 1-of-6 capturing. Mitchell Robinson missed his first 5 free-throw makes an attempt and completed 4-of-12 from the road.
The lopsided loss took the air out of a capability crowd that included Unhealthy Bunny, Timothee Chalamet and Alec Baldwin, together with quite a few attendees who paid greater than $600 on the resale market to get in.
The Knicks are actually 1-3 at residence this postseason, in comparison with 5-0 on the street.
However the Knicks stay up within the sequence. The groups that gained Video games 1 and a pair of on the street in a best-of-seven sequence have superior to the subsequent spherical 85.7% of the time.
The Knicks, who search their first journey to the Japanese Convention Finals since 2000, will look to bounce again in Recreation 4 on the Backyard on Monday night time.
“We have to learn from it,” Brunson stated of Recreation 3. “Obviously, it’s not a game where we did a lot of things particularly well. We have to learn from it. It’s not something you can just flush.”
Initially Printed: Could 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM EDT
