Knicks completely crumble on home court as Celtics dominate Game 3 and silence the Garden
Outside Madison Square Garden, it was sunny and beautiful, a perfect day for the biggest Knicks home playoff game in over two decades. Inside, it was gloomy, a powerful storm of Celtics 3-pointers that wouldn’t stop until this Eastern Conference semifinal series had a vastly different feel. The Knicks still hold a 2-1 lead this series, but that advantage feels incredibly precarious after Saturday’s 115-93 Game 3 pounding inside a quiet and dejected MSG. This looked like the first three regular-season games between the two teams — three Boston romps.This looked like the Celtics team that was supposed to cruise past the Knicks into the Eastern Conference finals for the fourth straight year and was considered a favorite to repeat as champions. Entering Saturday, the Celtics were the 31st team in NBA playoff history to drop the first two home games in a best-of-seven series.
Only five of those have gone on to win the series.Boston is looking to be the sixth. After getting shut down in Boston, All-Star wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown found their game, combining for 41 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists.
The Celtics hit 20 3-pointers in 40 attempts after missing a combined 75 over the first two contests.It was a 25-point game at halftime and 31 early in the third quarter.
There was extended garbage time, as Marv Albert liked to say. Unlike the first two games of the series, the Knicks weren’t coming back from that kind of deficit again.They never got closer than 20, setting up a pivotal Game 4 back at the Garden Monday night, and have lost three consecutive home playoff games. Midway through the third quarter, the Knicks were slowly building momentum.
The lead was 24 when Jalen Brunson inexplicably dribbled the ball off his foot.It led to a Tatum layup in transition — symbolic of the Knicks’ lost afternoon. Really, nobody played well for Tom Thibodeau’s team.
OG Anunoby (two points) didn’t score in the first half and has seven points over ...