Game 3 Review
The Celtics defeated the Knicks in a 115-93 dominating win. This was the complete game the Celtics needed to play and further demonstrated the undeniable fact; if they play average instead of historically awful in the 4th quarters of game 1 and game 2, this series is taken care of quickly. The 3-point shooting was back immediately, with the team shooting 6-7 from outside in the first. Everyone knew a hot shooting night would happen at some point, and it came at the team's most desperate hour.
The start of the game was everything I have been begging for. Good ball movement and getting into a rhythm early, and playing tough, physical defense. The Knicks only scored 20 points in the first, shooting 34/14/33 splits. The Celtics had to shut down the MSG crowd early, and they did just that.
The 2nd quarter would be more of the same, outscoring the Knicks 35-26, shooting 6-12 from outside as well as racking up 2 steals and 4 blocks. The game was more or less over from that point on, and there are a lot of reasons for that, but we'll first start with the most important players, and that is Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown
The Jays had come under a lot of fire for their performances, specifically in the 4th quarter of the first two games, but where criticism is placed, so is praise. The Jays had a perfect first half, combining for 31 points on 50/75 splits, as well as 6 assists. They had to set the tone early, and they did. The decision making was much more desisive, the shot selection was much better, the careless turnovers were limited, and it resulted in a blowout win.
The next person deserving of praise is Joe Mazzulla. He coached his 2 worst games as a coach and followed it up with his best. The offense was in rhythm the whole game, and when the Knicks would get momentum and get on a slight run, he'd call a timeout immediately. This is a sign of adjusting and learning from past mistakes.
It is respectable to stick to your identity, but it is not ok to be stubborn about it to the point where it hurts the team. Luckily, that is not the case, and he found the perfect middle ground of still shooting threes, but taking calculated, in rhythm shots, while driving to the paint and creating looks there as well.
Source: Boston.com
A big factor in the collapses was not just the Jays, but the role players not stepping up as well, specifically Derrick White, Al Horford, and Payton Pritchard. In this game, however, they were phenomenal as well, combining for 56 points on 57/55 splits. The shot selection was much better from these players as well, and Al Horford was able to find easy points for himself in the dunker spot, grabbing 3 offensive rebounds in the process.
This offense has always been about team basketball, moving it around and making sure everyone is involved, and the Celtics got back to their TRUE identity. Many people think simply bombing threes is the team's identity, but that could not be further from the truth. The true identity of the team is taking open threes with good ball movement in the flow of the offense, while playing excellent defense.
None of the Knicks players except Mikal Bridges played well offensively, and that can be directly traced to the Celtics defense. The defense had been good the previous two games, in spurts, before allowing the Knicks to have huge runs and gain momentum and rhythm. That did not happen today, as the Knicks struggled to get clean looks the entire game because of the Celtics in your face physical defense.
One concern from this game still remains, and that is defensive rebounding. The Knicks grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, with 10 being in the first half alone, with Robinson and KAT combined for 11 of them. Porzingis continues to be limited, playing just 18 minutes, leaving Kornet and Horford as the biggest Celtics players. A 38 year old and a backup center as your two center options is not ideal, so the Celtics have to crash the defensive glass to avoid offensive rebounds, otherwise, big momentum swings could happen again.
The Celtics will face the Knicks in game 4 of the series on Monday, in a game that will likely end the series if they lose. Another must win on the road, back against the wall. Will the Celtics steal another game in MSG?