The Celtics Have Officially Broken The Nets, Taking A 3-0 Series Lead With A 109-103 Game 3 Victory

 

    So it turns out that we should not have feared the Nets at all this postseason. They are complete frauds as proven by Boston's 109-103 win tonight in Game 3 of the first round at the Barclays Center to take a 3-0 series lead. Boston's superstar swingman Jayson Tatum (game-high 39 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, career-high 6 steals) was absolutely brilliant, shooting guard Jaylen Brown added 23 points, five assists and two steals while point guard Marcus Smart notched 14 points, six assists and two steals. Both of Brooklyn's stars were nowhere to be found as power forward Kevin Durant was held to 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and point guard Kyrie Irving had a similarly uninspiring performance of 16 points, nine assists and three steals in a must-win situation. Game 4 is Monday (7, NBC Sports Boston) at Barclays, you can hear the Nets mumbling "1-2-3 Cancun" already while head coach Steve Nash prepares to return to broadcasting Champions League soccer or some other random gig. 

    Given that no NBA team has ever rallied to win a playoff series when they have trailed 0-3, you figured that Brooklyn would show at least a little pride and play with some urgency from the start tonight. Not so much as Boston led 30-25 after the first quarter and 53-50 at halftime. The C's owned the third quarter (28-22) and hung on in the fourth quarter as the Nets made some three-pointers in garbage time to outscore them 31-28 in the final frame. One of the big storylines of this contest was the juxtaposition of Celts center Robert Williams returning less than a month after arthroscopic surgery on his knee while Ben Simmons continues to appear exclusively on Brooklyn's bench in his cartoonish outfits. Haha we'll see if he still returns in Game 4, what's the point? 

    Boston didn't get as much from their role players in Game 3 but those guys still made some valuable contributions: power forward Daniel Theis had nine points and six rebounds, center Al Horford's (2 blocks) lone basket was a clutch three-pointer in the fourth quarter, point guard Payton Pritchard notched 10 points off the bench for the second game in a row and power forward Grant Williams put up seven points and five rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench. Dorchester native and Nets small forward Bruce Brown was great yet again as he submitted a career-high for the second straight game with a team-high 26 points, eight rebounds and two steals, shooting guard Seth Curry had 10 points, center Nic Claxton (who should be starting!) added 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench while veteran point guard Patty Mills notched 12 points as a substitute. 

    Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has made Nash look like a fool in these first three games. I loved Nash as a player but he is so overmatched in this situation, he rolled with the same lineup in Game 3 and he appears incapable of making any type of in-game adjustments. Then again, what do you expect from a guy that had never been a head coach before this? Boston's defense was really good as they had six more steals than Brooklyn (13-7) and four less turnovers (18-14). The Celtics just outworked and outhustled the Nets, as they posted eight more points in the paint (50-42), 16 more fast break points (25-9) and 12 more points off turnovers (37-25). All three games in this series have been decided by single-digits but there has been no doubt who the better team is. Monday should be fun as I fully expect Brooklyn to fold like you read about.

For The First Time This Season, Celts Had Their Full Roster But They Lost 110-106 To The Spurs

 

    It only took 17 games (nearly 1/3 of this abbreviated regular season) but tonight the Celtics (10-7 overall, 5-5 away) finally got to see what their team looks like when it is at full strength (ie. nobody out with injuries and/or Covid-19). They had a chance to tie it late but guard Marcus Smart (14 points) missed a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner and Boston fell 110-106 to San Antonio (10-8 overall, 4-5 home) at the AT&T Center. Ever since superstar Kawhi Leonard left town, the Spurs have been mediocre at best. However, with tonight's win, the Spurs are 16-2 in their last 18 meetings with the C's. Boston also dropped to 2-4 in its last six games. Small forward Jayson Tatum (game-high 25 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals) and guard Jaylen Brown (24 points, 5 assists, 2 blocks) were the best players on the floor but in old school San Antonio style, they had six guys score in double-figures compared to only four by the Celts. 

    Small forward DeMar DeRozan (team-high 21 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds) and point guard Dejounte Murray (11 points, 11 rebounds) turned in the two biggest plays of the night, both for the Spurs. DeRozan hit a mid-range jumper that broke the late 103-103 tie then Murray converted a huge steal into a dunk and a four-point lead (107-103) that Boston was never able to recover from. Drafting and developing talent is kind of a lost art in the NBA but not when it comes to San Antonio who is always getting the most out of its young players many of whom were mid-to-late first round, second round or even undrafted picks. With that in mind, forward Keldon Johnson posted a double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds) and shooting guard Lonnie Walker IV added 14 points. Center LaMarcus Aldridge (20 points, 2 blocks) can still get it done as proven by his effectiveness this evening against an opponent that he usually owns. Backup point guard Patty Mills also notched 12 points and two steals off the bench. Celtics point guard Kemba Walker had essentially the same offensive numbers as Smart (14 points, 6-of-15 shooting from the field) which is not what they're looking for. 

I have no complaints about Boston's start because they jumped out to a 30-25 lead after the first quarter. Things completely changed in the second quarter as the home team flexed their muscles and basically ran the Celtics out of Texas. The Spurs more than doubled (36-17) up Boston in that frame and went into halftime with a gift turnover and floater at the buzzer by Walker for a 14-point advantage (61-47). The break treated the C's well as they came out and put together one of their best quarters of this season. They outscored the Spurs by 16 points (37-21) which allowed them to carry a slim two-point lead (84-82) into the fourth quarter. Sadly, that just set the stage for San Antonio to execute down the stretch while the Celtics (surprise!) looked like a team that needed some more practice time let alone games to build further chemistry. 

    When you examine the box score, it's tough to explain how this contest was so tight since the Spurs shot 13.2% better from the field (56.1%-42.9) and they grabbed seven more rebounds (46-39) including 11 more offensive boards (37-26). From what I can tell, besides Tatum and Brown, the only thing that kept this close down to the last possession was the fact that Boston had twice as many steals (10-5) and nine less turnovers (19-10). As it says above, the road has not been kind to the Celtics but they better find a way to change that soon since they host the Lakers (14-5) on Saturday night (8:30, ABC) before departing for a season-long five-game West Coast road trip. LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers are a half-game behind the Jazz (14-4) for the best record in the league but is there any doubt that the defending champions are still the team to beat? Saturday Night Live finally returns with a new show this weekend so what better prelude to that than a showdown of the NBA's most storied rivals?