Celtics Take Care of Business in Brooklyn, Pull Within one Game of Sweep
April 23, 2022
The series shifted to Brooklyn on Saturday night, but almost everything else seemed to stay the same. The old adage, ‘defense travels’ was proven to be true as the Celtics defense was able to smother the Brooklyn Nets yet again, en route to a 109-103 victory. The win gave the Celtics a 3-0 series lead over the Nets, and moved them to within one win of a series victory and advancing to the second round of the playoffs.
For the most part, game three felt like an extension of the last game. The Nets came out hot and built up a small lead in the first quarter, but Boston quickly erased the small deficit and led by 5 at the end of the first quarter. The Celtics were able to maintain that lead and ride it to a victory. The Nets pushed at times, but Boston always had an answer; usually responding by upping their already intense defensem, or getting a clutch high percentage basket from one of their best players.
Probably the biggest change in game 3 was the surprise return of Robert Williams for the Celtics. Word started trickling in early Friday afternoon that Williams was making great progress and was hoping to play as early as game 3 - well ahead of his initial timeline. Sure enough, the Timelord was able to suit up and returned to action, giving the Celtics 15 strong minutes off the bench. If anything, he looked a little rusty, and it will understandably take some time for him to get acclimated to the speed, intensity, and physicality of the playoffs, and this series. But overall Rob looked good and seemed to be his usual springy self. He finished a high flying lob dunk for his only basket (although he had another impressive alley-oop waved off for a foul on the floor) and had an impressive block, but more importantly was just his presence lurking around the rim on both ends. This was an encouraging sign for Celtics fans, to say the least.
The Jays led the way for Boston in this one, and Tatum was clearly the best player on the floor - as he’s been for this whole series. He poured in 39 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 6 assists. As gaudy as the statline looks, Tatum wasn’t even all that efficient, shooting only 13/29 and 4/13 from three. He scored every big basket when the team needed, and hit the shots that mattered, while completely being in control of the game on offense. Despite how well he played, it’s scary to think that Tatum can raise his game to an even higher level. Jaylen Brown perfectly filled the role of second star on offense, pitching in an efficient 23 points with 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Brown was clutch again, and hit all the big shots that Tatum didn’t. Boston has done a much better job lately of putting both Jays in action together and taking advantage of the mismatches it creates. On several occasions when the Celtics needed a bucket they had Brown come curling around a screen near the free throw line where he would catch the ball with a head of steam and either finish at the rim, or pull up for a short jumper. That play has become close to automatic.
As impressive as they were on offense, the Jays were arguably even better on the other end, leading the defensive charge. Tatum was brilliant, guarding Kevin Durant and completely took him out of the game. KD only attempted 11 shots the entire game and only 1 in the fourth quarter, finishing with just 16 points. There was simply nothing he could do against Tatum and the swarming Celtics defense. He essentially admitted after the game that they took him out of the game and that started with Tatum. For the series so far through three games, Tatum has been matched up on KD for 27 minutes and 120 possessions, yielding just 10 points on 2-15 from the floor, while blocking two shots and forcing 10 turnovers. Tatum had 6 steals in game 3 alone. The way he is dominating on both ends has him in the conversation as the best two way player in the NBA.
The Celtics defense was impressive across the board, and it remained a total team effort. Their ability to get stops and force turnovers (which often lead to easy offense) has been the biggest difference in this series. Another key has been Ime Udoka’s ability to push the right buttons off the bench over and over again. For the second straight game Derrick White saw his minutes limited, playing only 13 minutes, while Payton Pritchard picked up 12. Pritchard was huge in the second quarter, catching fire en route to 10 points on 4/5 shooting. Those spot minutes from Pritchard provided a huge boost for the Boston offense and helped swing the game.
The Celtics defense was also able to lock up the Nets other star, as they held Kyrie Irving to 16 points on 6/17 shooting and 0/7 from three. Much like with Durant, the Celtics are simply smothering Irving with length and physicality. Nothing is coming easy for these guys and Boston is staying engaged and making sure they have to work extremely hard to even get off a clean shot attempt.
The question now is how much fight will the Nets show? Although each game has been close, the Nets like like a tired and defeated team. No team in NBA playoff history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, a fact the Nets are surely aware of. Game 4 is Monday night and the Celtics will be going for a sweep. Will Brooklyn show up and fight for their pride, or will they simply roll over and accept their fate?
Ben Handler