The NBA’s most traditional franchise found the formula to defeat the Brooklyn “Big 3”, which is summed up in Jayson Tatum and the legendary “Celtic Pride” (Celtic Pride).
Tatum scored a career-high 50 points in the playoffs to lead the Celtics to their first 125-119 series victory over the Nets in the Eastern Conference postseason.
The atmosphere at TD Garden in Boston was full of energy with fans booing and chanting at former player Kyrie Irving every time he was involved in some game action, while Tatum sneaked into the basket, firing shots jumping back and shooting from 3 points to achieve the long-awaited first victory against a team that everyone considers superior with its three great stars like Irving himself, along with James Harden and Kevin Durant.
Having scored 50 points in the Play-In Tournament game to earn his playoff ticket, Tatum couldn’t find his rhythm in the first two games in Brooklyn, but tonight he was key to Boston taking a 15-point lead very early. in the game.
For Irving it was the first game in front of Celtics fans since leaving the team in 2019 free agency.
Harden was the best of the Nets with 41 points and Durant added 39, while Irving left with 16, adding 96 points from the “Big 3” and only 23 from the rest of his teammates.
Tatum returned to the lineup after only playing 21 minutes in Game 2 because Durant had accidentally poked his right eye.
On his return to the court, Tatum became the first Celtic to score 40 points in three quarters since Isaiah Thomas did so on May 2, 2017.
In addition, at 23 years and 86 days old, he has already put his name among the greats of all time as the third youngest player in history to achieve a 50-point playoff game, only being surpassed by Rick Barry of 23. years and 21 days in 1967 and by Michael Jordan of 23 years and 62 days.
In the Celtics’ long history in the playoffs, Tatum is the sixth player to pass 50 points: John Havlicek (54), Isaiah Thomas (53), Ray Allen and Sam Jones (51) and Bob Cousy (50).
Game 4 will be on Sunday night again in Boston and will be almost full capacity as the state of Massachusetts removed the 25 percent limits.
Marcus Smart added 23 points for the Celtics, Tristan Thompson gave them a big boost with 19 points and 13 rebounds and Evan Fournier added 17 points. Kemba Walker had a tough night, scoring just 6 points and going 3 of 14 on shooting from the field.
Brooklyn slashed a 16 deficit to just 5 points with less than a minute left, but Tatum hit a half shot for Boston to contain the Nets.
Tatum scored 11 points in the final 4:46 minutes of the third period as the Celtics converted a 1-point deficit to a 12-point lead (96-84) entering the fourth period.
The Nets started the game on a swing drum, hitting 4 of 5 shots behind the 3-point arc to take a 19-4 lead before Tatum ignited Boston’s comeback with 21 points in the first half that gave him the 61- lead. 57 to the Celtics at halftime. Harden and Durant almost did the same as Tatum, with 17 points each.
Trae Young hands out baskets and second win in series for Hawks
Trae Young wanted to make his mark in his first playoff appearance, and boy has he done it.
Young scored 21 points and dished out 14 assists for the Atlanta Hawks to beat the New York Knicks 105-94 in Game 3 of the first-round series in the Eastern Conference.
Backed by a building with 15,743 fans, the highest number of the season in Atlanta, the Falcons enter Game 4 next Sunday again at home with a 2-1 advantage.
The first half was very close, but the Hawks closed the second quarter on a 22-5 streak led by Young, in which he had a lot to do with 18 of those points.
He hit a 3-pointer and a mid-range shot to score just 5 points, but he kept spreading the game all over the floor and creating opportunities for his teammates.
The Falcons had a 58-44 lead at halftime and the Knicks were never able to discount the difference to less than 10 points during the final two quarters.
In Game 2, a Knicks fan spat at Young as he tried to get a ball into circulation in the fourth quarter. There were three other incidents in the playoffs and around the same time, so the NBA has had to renew security measures. A total of five fans in New York, Philadelphia and Utah have been banned from games for their conduct.
For Atlanta, there were seven players who surpassed ten points, including 14 by John Collins.
Knicks star Julius Randle had another very difficult night and received shouts from fans in Atlanta of “Overpriced, overpriced, overpriced!” Randle was contained in 14 points connecting only 2 of 15 shots from the field and in the series he is 13 of 54.
In his first game as a series starter, Derrick Rose led the New Yorkers with 30 points. He made 13 of his 21 shots, but his teammates combined for just 16 of 60.
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