POST GAME CROOKLYN - HOME GAME #3 PLAYOFFS

Celtics Wrap: Jayson Tatum Drops 50 In Boston’s Game 3 Win Over Nets
Boston avoids a 3-0 with a hard-nosed performance


NESN by Adam London

The Boston Celtics’ 2020-21 season will survive past Memorial Day.

After an ugly showing in Game 2 of its first-round NBA playoffs series with the Nets, the Celtics responded with a 125-119 triumph Friday night at TD Garden.

Jayson Tatum, who was forced to exit Tuesday’s game due to an eye injury, was sensational in Game 3. A game-high 50 points marked a new career playoff high for the 23-year-old.

Tristan Thompson put together arguably his best game in a C’s uniform, stuffing the stat sheet with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Marcus Smart (23 points) and Evan Fournier (17 points) also scored in double figures for Boston.

Kevin Durant and James Harden combined for 80 points, but Brooklyn didn’t receive much help elsewhere.

With the win, the Celtics’ trimmed the Nets’ series lead to 2-1.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Evan Fournier
PF: Jayson Tatum
C: Tristan Thompson

WEATHERING THE STORM
This one looked like it was going to get ugly quick. The Nets knocked down four 3-pointers over the first 3:24 of the game as they jumped out to a 19-4 lead.


But the Celtics hung tough, chipped away and took a one-point lead into the second quarter.

Tatum went into attack mode as the Celtics staged their early rally. The fourth-year pro went on a personal 6-0 run after Brooklyn amassed a 15-point lead and finished the frame with 13 points. Smart wasn’t far behind with 11, including a pull-up, go-ahead 3-pointer with 12 ticks to go in the first.


Harden matched Tatum with 13 first-quarter points of his own.

MAINTAINING ADVANTAGE
The Celtics didn’t rest on their laurels after strongly finishing out the opening frame.



Boston held its lead — which grew as large as 10 in the second — throughout the quarter and entered the break with a 61-57 edge. Tatum once again stood out with eight points, but it wasn’t the two-time All-Star alone who shined for the C’s in the second. Thompson logged Boston’s first four points of the quarter and finished the frame with eight, while Fournier racked up seven.

Kyrie Irving was uncharacteristically quiet through two quarters, posting a mere two points with two assists.


WIDENING GAP
After a Tatum fadeaway just over four minutes into the third pushed the Celtics’ lead to eight, the Nets responded with a 9-0 and took their first lead since the first quarter on an Irving floater. But the Celtics didn’t crack, as Smart immediately responded with a 3-pointer to put Boston back on top.

Smart then started to heat up, knocking down two more from beyond the arc over the next minute-plus. He managed to sink one of those treys despite being fouled by Irving.


Smart’s outburst only was outdone by Tatum, who erupted for 19 points in the third. The two-time All-Star stood at 40 points heading into the final frame.



FINISHING THE JOB
The C’s came out firing in the fourth with a 6-0 run, four of which from Thompson. But Brooklyn didn’t let Boston start to coast, as seven points from Harden and a 3-point bomb from Irving forced Brad Stevens to call a timeout with 7:35 to play.


But as the C’s, as they did throughout the game, stayed composed as adversity started to rear its head. A quick six from Tatum, a 3-pointer from Fournier and a Walker pull-up stretched Boston’s lead back to double digits.



The Nets made things a little interesting when a KD 3-pointer with 21.5 seconds to go trimmed the Celtics’ lead to four, but Boston ultimately hung on for the victory.

PLAY OF THE GAME
A steal, a silky-smooth dish and a slam.


UP NEXT
The Celtics and the Nets resume their series Sunday night, when TD Garden will be at near-full capacity. Tip-off for Game 4 is slated for 7 p.m. ET.

112288

CELTIC PRIDE IS ALIVE AFTER ALL!

Very Gutsy performance by the team!

112288

Hi,
The mental state of the team and overall good defense made this win.
Obviously, JT's return into the Zone was huge. It seems that BKN doesn't have anyone who can guard him. Speaking of which, I couldn't understand why BKN allowed switching JT to be against Kyrie, Griffin and Claxton - JT just feasted on them.
I hope all the above will remain for Sunday's game.

AK

Amazing performance by Tatum, was best player on the floor and carried us, with huge game from Smart and big baskets by Frenchy and great dirty work/effort from Thompson. Amazing how we still won with Kemba’s inefficiency and monster games from Durant and Harden. This team came to play and even overcame the refs, Smart was set, how does that pus.y Durant get that damn call...???

Great effort in the paint by TT, if TT can do this to Nets, wonder what Giannis and Brook Lopez will do to them? Imagine if we had Jaylen, we would take this series, he could help us defensively on Durant and Harden so much and go right at those guys. I don’t understand why they stopped playing DeAndre Jordan? Well let them figure it out, anyone concerned how inept PP has looked? Romeo has more 3’s than Pritch...??? Despite the refs, basketball gods were looking out for us, Kyrie had a weak game. That was the difference. Can we get another amazing performance like this from Tatum and Smart? Anything is possible

This game looked like another bad patch early in the 1st QTR but the Celtics managed to gather themselves and ended the QTR with a one point lead.  They continued to keep things even and were only down  2 at halftime.

What made this game competitive was the intensity on the defensive side of the ball.  The Nets are virtually unstoppable but the Celtics got just enough stops at the right time to win.  

Tatum added another notch to his 6 shooter while scoring from anywhere and everywhere on the court.  He is our ultimate go to guy and that defies his age.  

Marcus Smart had a damn near perfect complimentary game to Tatum going 8-11 from the field and 5-8 from deep.  The reversal on the Durant charging call was bad news and the most obvious of bad reviews that you will ever witness.  But it did not stop us from playing on.

Fournier made his very important open looks throughout the game.

TT with a grown man's game was very effective down low.

Grant Williams and Romeo Langford gave us contributions when we needed them the most.

The win last night becomes even more astounding when you factor in Kemba's 'no-show' especially his 5 out of control turnovers.

The Nets deep bench does not looks so deep.  The Nets offense became what it really is, three high end 1 on 1 ISO players taking turns with the rock,  Both Durant and Harden were fabulous (80 points between them) but LPB no so much.  LPB is an acronym for Little Pea Brain.  

The Celtics gave us fans exactly what we asked,  They played Celtics basketball.

We've been going crazy with this team's inconsistencies.  In many of our cases we haven't been willing to accept the impact of injuries and COVID has had on our chemistry and, therefore, our consistency.  We've questioned their heart, which was reasonable to do in a couple of games.  There's hope, here, from last night.  We saw Pride on display.  Don't be fooled, they are still the much better team, but we held off the barbarians at the gate and lived to fight another day.  What most important is that they're fighting like a pack of meth-crazed wolverines (to use one of my favorite phrases).  The Celtic team I watched last night was one I could be proud of, one that I'm willing to go to war with.  Backs against the wall they pulled together and dug in.

We started off down 19-4.  We started off shooting 2-11.  We ended up shooting 50.6% on 45-89.  That means, after a horrendous start, we shot 43-78 for the rest of the game.  55%.  That's a pretty impressive clip for > 3 1/2 quarters.

One obvious reason was that Tatum was in god-mode (small "g", for those who care).  Once he saw the ball go through the net he saw them all go through the net.  And it wasn't just his shooting.  He had 7 assists but only 1 turnover.  We've harped for months now about his turnovers, but last night he was the best floor general we had.  He had 2 steals and a block.  This wasn't an All-Star performance, it was an All-NBA performance.  Think of what it takes to overshadow Kevin Durant, perhaps the best natural shooter in the league not named Steph Curry or maybe Bradley Beal.  Tatum is putting the league on notice that he is the next era's great shooter.

Mark Murphy @Murf56
about 45 minutes ago
As pointed out by the stat magnate, Dick Lipe, Jayson Tatum’s four 50-plus performances covered a span of exactly 50 days. They’ll obviously title the film 50-for-50


Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 10 hours ago
Tristan Thompson on @NBCSCeltics when asked about Jayson Tatum's 50 piece: "When the lights are bright, the golden child has to come in and do what he has to do."




We got Playoff Smart last night.  23 points on 8-11, 5-8 from 3.  I am in absolute awe of his ganas.  His will is indomitable.  He was guarding everybody on the floor.  He guarded Kyrie, he guarded Durant, he guarded Harden, he guarded Harris, he guarded Griffin.  Could Draymond Green guard Kyrie as well as the slower players?  I don't think he has the speed.  Could Kawhi?  Maybe.  Smart did.  Bill Russell, Dave Cowens and Larry Legend were also such inspirational leaders in green.  I'm not saying Marcus Smart is another Russ or Bird, of course he isn't, but his hatred of losing and willingness to do whatever it takes to not lose are his overlapping traits to those great Celtic players (and World Champions).  They too hated losing more than they loved winning.




The other player whose ganas was on full display last night was Tristan Thompson.  If Tatum was in god-mode Thompson was in beast-mode.  19 points on 8-13, 13 rebounds and (I'm positively quivering as I write this) 9 offensive rebounds.  9 out of 13.  The Nets had 8 fast break points last night.  A team that is on the small side and likes to run only got 8 points from running.  No point in running if you don't have possession of the ball and Thompson denied them that.  If you love '80s basketball you gotta love Tristan Thompson because he's a throwback to that era.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 10 hours ago
Tristan Thompson's 9 offensive rebounds tonight trail only Kevin McHale and Robert Parish for most by a Celtic in a playoff game. Obviously, they didn't track OREBs when Russell was playing, who probably averaged 10 a night.


Jay King @ByJayKing
about 10 hours ago
Asked about his play tonight, Tristan Thompson said some guys are built for the regular season, other guys are built for the playoffs.





Kemba 3-14, 0-7 from 3, 5 turnovers.  6 points.  Romeo freaking Langford had as many points in 27 minutes as Kemba Walker had in 34.  Kemba with 8 rebounds but, that's it, and that's not enough.  I'd love to show you a Kemba Walker highlight film from this game but that would be about 10 seconds long, just long enough for 8 rebounds and 3 shots that went in.

Speaking of Romeo, some good minutes from him.  One dumb foul at the arc but otherwise solid defense, a lot of it on Durant.  6 rebounds.  Brad's giving some run time to Romeo and it's working.  Pritchard and Nesmith really are looking like deer caught in headlights while Romeo looks more polished.  Just goes to show experience does matter.  Not necessarily game minutes, just minutes in the NBA, around NBA players, learning NBA schemes.  Romeo in his 2 years has played about 10 total minutes fewer than Nesmith has in his one year, and half of what Pritchard has played in his 1 year but it's Romeo who is looking like he belongs in the playoffs.

Fournier came alive.  He was 0-3 after 1 and 3-8 at the half.  He ended up 6-12, a 3-4 2nd half and 17 points.  4-7 from 3.  That's what we got him for, to open up the floor.  I also am appreciating his ganas, he's a feisty little fils de salaud, and I like that.




I liked Grant's game.  While I'm not saying he needs to be on the team next year (I'm not saying that about a lot of our roster) he played well in his 11 minutes last night.  He played solid defense, he made a great block at the rim and, last but not least, when Durant knocked a Celtic down (was it Smart?) and stood over him and glared at him it was Grant Williams who stepped up and forced Durant to take a step back from his prone teammate.  A little enforcer in Grant perhaps?  Anyway, we can't play our starters 48 minutes, we need bench players to come in and hold the fort while they rest, and Grant did that.  His 4 points on 2-2 were welcome too.  Zero 3pt fgas by Grant Williams was welcome too.

The Time Lord is going to miss more time.

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
Rob Williams is in a boot after his sprained ankle. Brad Stevens doesn't know what his availability will be for Sunday


The Last Two Minute Report probably won't mention it but there was a particularly ridiculous call with < 1 minute left.  Smart took an obvious charge from Durant.  The call was made, Steve Nash challenged it and the league office overruled the call on the floor and called it a block on Smart and put Durant on the line.  Awful.  I suspect the reason why the L2M report won't mention it is because it was reviewed and, therefore, not a blown call in their opinion.  I think their opinions were dead wrong.  The fact that they overturned a call on the floor and were dead wrong about it makes it worse.  It was suggested that it was the league saying "F you" to Smart for his recent run-in with a ref, but the ref on the floor called it for Smart and not against him.

John Karalis @RedsArmy_John
about 10 hours ago
Marcus Smart on what the refs said after the overturned the offensive foul on Kevin Durant: "I was told I was still moving"

He was moving.  He was moving directly backwards, which you are allowed to do.  You can retreat directly backwards and, if you get run over, that's a charge unless you retreat into the restricted area when the contact occurs.  I can't blame the ref for giving Smart that BS answer, he called it right.  It's the league that screwed it up.

Watch for yourself.  This is on bullshite reversal by the league. It's one thing for the refs to blow a call, we're all fallible, but for them to make the right call and then have the league overturn it is complete crap. Love Smart's reaction at the very end.




25 of their 31 ftas were by Durant and Harden.  Smart got away with a flop but Durant and Harden were given a ton of fritos that, in my opinion, they didn't deserve either.

Kyrie got booed every time he touched the ball.  There were NO reports of any racial slurs being shouted by the crowd.  Perfect.  Well done, Boston.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Marcus Smart: "We're going up against a juggernaut of a team. The world knows it. We know it. It ain't going to be easy."


Next game there will be 17,000 fans in the stands.  Winning this game makes their presence even more impactful.

Jay King @ByJayKing
10 hours ago
Tristan Thompson said the Celtics fans need to be rocking on Sunday: “We need to blow this motherfucking roof off. That’s what we need.”


Mark Murphy @Murf56
about 10 hours ago
Tristan Thompson on Sunday's larger crowd: "I can't flip* wait til Sunday - 17 K, green, I'm gonna see the leprechaun."


Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
about 9 hours ago
Tristan Thompson: "Boston represents people that are blue collar, punch the clock and don't take shoot from nobody so we are going to have that same mentality on the court."

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401327876


Bob


.

Jay King @ByJayKing
about 42 minutes ago
Larry Bird, Tracy McGrady, and Carmelo Anthony each had four 50-point games in his career, including the postseason. Jayson Tatum has had four since April 9 if you include the play-in tournament.


Bob


.

I don’t believe the NBA officiating crew as a vendetta against Marcus. It was the league who suspended Smart and it was the league who has the mandate to make an example and continue to punish Smart. Last night was a perfect example of that. What a GD shame.

Please digest coach Ktron’s Crooklyn game 2 Post game blueprint for game 3.
How do we tie this series up on Sunday?
RINSE & REPEAT BI*C**S!!!!

#vote4coachktroncoachoftheweek

bobheckler wrote:Jay King @ByJayKing
about 42 minutes ago
Larry Bird, Tracy McGrady, and Carmelo Anthony each had four 50-point games in his career, including the postseason. Jayson Tatum has had four since April 9 if you include the play-in tournament.


Bob


.

Amazing what a roll he’s been on, once he finds that zone, he can score all over in such variety. We will eventually put the right pieces around he and Jaylen. He’s only 23