Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum reacts after shooting a 3-point basket during the first half of Game 3 … More
When New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson made a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter Saturday, the star-filled crowd at Madison Square Garden that had been quieted for much of the afternoon suddenly erupted. Most fans had paid hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, for their tickets, and they didn’t want to leave disappointed. Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla then called a timeout. The Celtics led by 20 points, but Mazzulla wasn’t going to take any chances. He knew what the Knicks were capable of in their Eastern Conference semifinals series.
This time, the Knicks couldn’t get any closer, as the Celtics won 115-93 to cut their series deficit to two games to one. This was not a repeat of the first two games when the Celtics blew consecutive 20-point second half leads, losing Game 1 by three points in overtime and Game 2 by one point, with Knicks wing Mikal Bridges making the game-clinching steal both times.
Instead, Boston’s performance was reminiscent of the regular season when the Celtics won all four games against the Knicks and finished second in the conference with a 61-21 record, including a league- and franchise-best 33-8 on the road.
Asked if the past 72 hours since the Game 2 loss had been difficult, Mazzulla didn’t hesitate.
“No,” he said. “Not at all.”
He added: “We’re on a path of trying to go after greatness and you don’t get to dictate the test that’s in front of you. All you’ve got to dictate is how you approach it and how you respond to it. If you plan on doing this for a long time, trust me – it would be a lot worse than those last 72 hours. That’s the perspective you have to have….This is the fun part. You don’t get into the journey for it to be easy. It’s been dark, but in a good way.”
Asked about the “dark” comment, Mazzulla said: “You’ve just got to tap into your darkness. That’s it.”
Saturday’s game took place exactly 52 years after the Knicks clinched the 1973 NBA championship with a Game 5 victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles. Since then, the Knicks haven’t won another title and only made the NBA Finals twice, losing in 1994 and 1994. They haven’t even advanced past the conference semifinals since 2000.
Still, the Knicks were in an enviable position entering Saturday, having won the first two games on the road in thrilling fashion. Their fans were as excited for Saturday as any game since the 2000 playoffs. As of Thursday, the average ticket price sold via the TickPick online marketplace was $983, making it the most expensive Knicks home game since TickPick began tracking the data in 2011.
Unsurprisingly, numerous former players and celebrities were on hand. Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley, both of whom started for the Knicks’ only championship teams in 1970 and 1973, were at the game, as were Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson and Latrell Sprewell, all of whom started on the Knicks teams in 1999 and 2000, the last time the franchise was this relevant.
Actors Timothee Chalamet, Tracy Morgan and Ben Stiller, singers Sting and Bad Bunny and former New York Giants stars Eli Manning, Justin Ruck and Michael Strahan attended, too. So did Spike Lee, the famed filmmaker and longtime fan who has been sitting courtside since the 1990s when he heckled opponents, perhaps most memorably former Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller.
On Saturday, Lee didn’t have much to talk trash about, with the Celtics getting out to an early advantage and never letting up. The Celtics made their first 4 3-pointers and 6 of their first 7 and took a 36-20 lead after one quarter on Payton Pritchard’s baseline jumper at the buzzer. At halftime, the Celtics were ahead 71-46, and they led by at least 20 points throughout the second half.
Pritchard came off the bench and led the Celtics with 23 points, setting a career playoff-high. He also played 34 minutes and 31 seconds, more than he ever had in a postseason game, as Mazzulla chose to give Pritchard more time with starting guard Jrue Holiday in foul trouble. Pritchard made 8 of 16 shots, including 5 of 10 on 3’s.
“At times, you go with what makes the most sense,” Mazzulla said of increasing Pritchard’s minutes. “(Pritchard) played really well on both ends of the floor for us.”
Jayson Tatum (22 points), Jaylen Brown (19), Derrick White (17) and Al Horford (15) each scored in double figures, too. They all had multiple 3-pointers, as Boston finally shot well in the series.
After making only 25 of their 100 3-point attempts in the first two games, the Celtics shot 50% on 3’s (20 of 40), including 63% (12 of 19) in the first half. During the regular season, the Celtics set NBA records with 17.8 3-pointers made and 48.2 3-point attempts per game, good for a 36.8% mark.
“They have a very good offensive team,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “They play five-out and spread you out, so your toughness and your discipline have to be tied together.”
Mazzulla said Boston shooting the ball better Saturday “is the easy thing to look at” in terms of how they were able to win, but he also noted the Celtics improved at the end of quarters and took care of the ball. The Celtics had eight turnovers on Saturday, an improvement from 13 in Game 1 and 16 in Game 2.
“I can’t stress the importance to you of not throwing the ball to the other team so they get out in transition,” Mazzulla said. “You have to end quarters, you have to start quarters well, you have to value the basketball, you have to win the margins. That’s all we talked about for the last 72 hours.”
For the Knicks, Saturday’s outcome continued a strange recent trend in which they struggle at MSG but thrive in other arenas. The Knicks have won all five of their road games this postseason, but they have lost three of four home playoff games.
On Saturday, Brunson had a game-high 27 points, but he made just 9 of 21 shots, while fellow All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns scored 21 points but missed 13 of his 18 field goal attempts. Towns played much of the game with a hand injury, but Thibodeau did not elaborate on the severity of the injury. The Knicks shot 40% from the field (32 of 80) and 20% on 3’s (5 of 25).
The teams return to MSG on Monday night for Game 4, with the Knicks looking to break their home woes and the Celtics aiming to play well on the road again. The Celtics, the reigning NBA champions, had been criticized this past week after blowing big leads in the first two games, but that changed Saturday when they looked like the team that has made it to at least the conference finals six times in eight seasons with Tatum and Brown leading the charge.
“It’s the playoffs — it’s the biggest time of the year,” Tatum said. “There’s going to be a different narrative essentially after every game. I’ve been on record. I talk about it a lot, just not riding the emotional roller coaster of a win or a loss, just understanding that this core group, we’ve been through a lot of series together, a lot of games, a lot of moments. We’ve just got to continue to rely on each other throughout whatever we’re going through.”
