Jason Tatum scored 39 points, Jaylen Brown scored 23 points, and the Boston Celtics led the Brooklyn Nets 3-0 on Sunday with a 109-103 lead.
The suffocating defenses of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have once again made things difficult, with the Celtics sweeping them into second-round positions with a win in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
A loud 'Celtic come on! Cheers Celtic! In the final minutes, many fans in green jerseys sitting in barclays center seats erupted in cheers.
There wasn't much for home fans to cheer because the Nets were facing a team that wouldn't allow them to make a difference.
Durant made just 11 shots, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Irving also scored 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting, and the Nets must decide whether they will make Ben Simmons debut in Monday's knockout round.
With just over a minute left in the third quarter, Boston led most of the time before the Nets narrowed the score to three points. But Marcus Smart scored on the next shot, jumping ahead of Brown's steals and dunks to make it to the fourth quarter 81-72.
Brown stopped the Nets there, repeatedly finding one-on-one games and pushing towards the basket. After the Nets pulled the score back by four points, he arranged a three-pointer for Tatum in the corner and then scored on a jump shot before Tatum converted the three-pointer, rewriting the score to 96-84 with 6:25 left in the game.
The Celtics are back with center Robert Williams, who has been absent for nearly a month due to a torn cartilage in his left knee, which makes their defense even stronger.
Bruce Brown is the Nets player who can really solve this problem, scoring a career playoff-high 26 points.
Durant shot 13-of-41 (31.7 percent) in two games in Boston, with 12 turnovers, and the Nets' only real hope is if he can get back in form at home.
After shooting 0-of-10 in the second half of his second game, he scored 3 points on his first shooting attempt, but he never found room to shoot consistently while making five turnovers.
The Celtics limited Durant to just two shots and led 30-25 after a quarter before substitute guard Peyton Pritchard scored seven straight points to open the second game and extend the lead to 37-25. With less than a minute and a half left in the first half, Boston still led by eight points, but the Nets scored seven straight points and ended the half with a 53-50 score.
summary
Celtic: Smart 14 points. Williams had two points and two rebounds in 16 minutes on the bench after missing the last seven games of the regular season in his first game since March 27.
Nets: Patti Mills was selected as the winner of the NBA Sportsmanship Award on Friday, earning honors before the game began. ... Blake Griffin made his series debut and scored 8 points. ... Director Spike Lee is a longtime Knicks fan who wears the Brooklyn Dodgers jersey and hat during the game.
Simmons State
Coach Steve Nash said Simmons had no setbacks in a 3-on-3 melee on Saturday morning. He said Simmons could play in game four, but warned that given his long break, coupled with his herniated disc, there are more factors to consider than simmons feeling well after training.
Nash said, "How he feels, how well he adapts to his environment, and there are a lot of bigger pictures and bigger contexts." "It's a little bit different from playing a game that was put on hold in the regular season, so I think there are a couple of factors at play to assess when he's ready to play." '