NBA Gametime reacts Boston Celtics beat New York Knicks 115-93 in Gm 3: Tatum 22 Pts; Brunson 27 Pts

NBA Gametime reacts Boston Celtics beat New York Knicks 115-93 in Gm 3: Tatum 22 Pts; Brunson 27 Pts

[Music] [Music] Hey, Jason Tatum and the Celtics knew this was a must-win situation and they treated it as such. The Celtics taking game three and have made this a series between them and the Knicks. Welcome to Playoff Central Live presented by State Farm. Nel Cream alongside Brendan Haywood and Dennis Scott. We got complete postgame coverage coming up here on NBA TV. Uh the Celtics right from the get-go, man. I I mean, they were locked in. They were not messing around. Yeah, they came like they came out there, they had that look in their eye. They understood the importance of this game. And more importantly, the three-point shot was falling. This team, they live by that age-old adage, you live by the three, die by the three. They are going to shoot their shots. They don’t care what no one is talking about. And tonight, they were knocking down the three-point shot at a very high clip. When you have a team that takes 43s and they hit half of them, there’s a strong chance they’re going to win. To your point, I know you were still getting room service in the morning uh when we were doing the pregame here, but very true. Uh 3D, you we talked about this and your approach was uh with the three-point shooting. You know how I got my nickname, right? So, I had to show the fans, we’ll show on the court that if you’ve only made 25 out of your last hundred, put the ball on the floor. Go get a layup. Don’t let big body brunching off the hook. But Jason Tatum told us in the pregame show, uh, Bwood, that we are who we are. We’re gonna shoot our threes. And I said, JT, I love you, but you have to mix up a little bit. Well, they just proved us wrong again. They’re going to take their a lotment of threes, but they made them early on in the game. That’s the question you asked when we were watching. When you go five for five to start the game, now the enthusiasm, the the confidence goes to a sky-high level. And then the Knicks missed their first couple of shots, then you kind of ride that wave. And then after that, you saw the confidence of each and every guy started making shots and living to how they play their game. Yeah. B, we were having this conversation. I was just asking him. I’m saying, you know, from a Knicks perspective, from a Celtics perspective, seeing those go, that’s great. That’s confidence. But from a Knicks perspective early on, seeing Boston hit those threes, you’re like, “Oh boy, we might be in for it tonight.” Well, from the Knicks perspective, like I said, it wasn’t the fact that just that Boston was hitting their threes. The Knicks also weren’t hitting any of theirs. I think they were shooting, I think they shot six of 25, only hit like two threes throughout the first, you know, two or three quarters of this game. Five of 25 actually. So when you go out there and you struggle with a three-point line and then the other team is hitting their threes, it kind of can can things can kind of snowball rather quickly for you. And we saw that Boston was able to just get a lead early, keep that lead, and just move it farther and farther out. And this time they didn’t give up. Normally, normally when Boston gets up 20, that’s right where the Knicks want them. But but as my man 3D would say, not tonight. Not tonight. Cuz tonight they was weird and I hate saying this, the Mr. for make league. But that’s what it was today in that first quarter. The team who got off to a better start making shots rode that confidence for the rest of the game and the Knicks could ever find that mojo like to your point like they found in games one and two being down just 20. They got back in the ball game one. Yeah. And when they did get it to like 14, you’re thinking, okay, maybe maybe they might get some momentum here. Pton Pritchard, right? Ball swinging around. Pton Pritchard made three or four wide open threes. He’s not the sixth man of the year for no reason. He’s one of those guys that can come off the bench, light it up. This is a guy that’s had that had 40 off the bench this year. That’s right. That’s that is huge. So, we understood what type of shooter he is. We understand how capable he is. And when you have a guy like that come off the bench and just catch absolute fire like that’s when that’s when you know it’s going to it’s going to be your night. And and I give Pton Picture credit because normally 3D we talk about your role player stepping up. Mhm. At home. Thank you. But when Thank you. But 3D finally. Yes. Yes. But when your role player steps up off the bench, Madison Square Garden, come on. Talk to them. Talk to the people. Talk to the people. Spike Leonire all the time. Talk to the people front row. Talk to the people and your and your role player comes in and does that. That’s huge. That that’s conf that matter of fact, he’s more than a role player. You know what I’m saying? Like when he when you’re not tell when you’re not the star and you come off the bench and you excel in that environment, that is big time. And that speaks to your character and also speaks to your confidence level. Thank you, Bwood, for going there because I’ve been trying to explain that to people. That’s only for guys who are afraid of the moment. Pritcher is not afraid of the moment. He’s he’s salivating for that opportunity to prove to everybody, yes, I don’t just do this at home to get six man. I got six man a year to work because I do it on the road as well. So that’s why he stands out so much more than the average role player because he’s doing the biggest stage in Madison Square Garden. Uh let’s flip it to the Knicks perspective here. What went wrong for you, Bwood, from a Knicks perspective? Well, when you look at the Knicks, the first thing, like I said, is this guarding the three-point line. Um some of the shots, they were quality looks. You saw that one play where the ball gets kicked to Jason Tatum at the top of the key. He has all day to catch it, line it up. Then finally Mitchell Robinson’s able to get out there and close out. When you give this team quality looks and they’re able to knock those looks down, it’s going to be problematic for you. So, we keep saying the same thing over and over again, but it’s true and it’s so true for how this team plays. You have to make those looks for Boston. Contested, tougher looks, run them off. You can’t let those be easy practice shots. When they’re getting those easy practice shots, that’s when it turn turns into a long night for you. And we saw that in game three. See what he’s saying right now matches what we talked about in the pregame show because we showed a highlight where Jason Tatum and Brown got like I think nine eight or nine of those shots wide open in Boston and to your point once again now the numbers flip. You gave those same wide open shots and they made them and it bit you in the foot and you couldn’t overcome that throughout the whole game. That’s the part where the Knicks have to figure out a way for game four is make sure now you run them off the line because now they found a hot hand. And we mentioned this pregame and I think it’s still a fair statement to say we haven’t seen the Knicks best game yet. Yes, they’ve come back in two games, but we don’t haven’t seen their best game yet. Um, you know, when you’re not making shots, you can’t go 24 to 35 from the free throw line. I mean, those are free points. Yeah, like I said, uh, when you look at how you win playoff series, a lot of times it comes down to are you doing the little things? Are you not are you controlling the glass? Are you not turning the ball over? Are you hitting your free throws? Mhm. It’s very hard to win in this league when you’re not hitting threes. When you’re not hitting threes and you’re missing free throws, it’s almost impossible to win unless your defense is just suffocating that night. And the Knicks defense was not that tonight. So, we understand those two things go hand in hand. They were poor from the free throw line, poor from the three-point line. Major reason why they weren’t able to win this game. On top of that, you look at Carl Anthony Towns, five of 18 from the field. Um, he didn’t really have it going. Also got to the free he got to the free throw line. He wasn’t the problem at the free throw line. He was 10 for 11, but he didn’t do what they needed him to do from the field. So, it was just one of those games that just snowballed on him. And since we’re on the Knicks right now, uh OG Anob has been playing lights out basketball throughout these whole playoffs. Not tonight. Only one of six. Six is not enough for Ojanovi. Well, we talked about it earlier. It’s like they paid you to be aggressive. It’s the the conversation you were having because I want people understand that we’re in the back the green room. We have open conversation. You’re a part of it. So it’s like, well, he got paid to be a superstar. No, he got paid to be a better version of who he is. And to our conversation was one night it may be six, maybe eight, maybe 12. But if I don’t see the aggression, a confidence of attacking the basket like you like that charge you got in Boston when he dunked on that that gave the whole team energy. Next thing you know, you come back, you win the ball game. That’s the effort that they paid for. And tonight, we didn’t see it. One of six. 11593 the final. Jason Tatum leading uh Boston in this game right from the get- go. 22 points, nine rebounds, seven assists. Here’s what he had to say right now at the podium. Jason, just like in games one and two, you guys got out to a big lead. The difference though, how were you able to hold on to it in this one? Uh just keep playing the right way. Uh we understood the the magnitude of this game, right? You know, we needed this one. Um you know, we just didn’t like the way we felt after, you know, last game. So, just coming out here with the right mindset. Uh, you know, just trying to put it all together. What was different from three tonight? We made some shots. That’s it. Yeah. Make or miss league sometimes. You said after after game two that, you know, when shots were not falling that we’ve got to continue to be who we are. We got to keep shooting. Just what gave you guys the confidence to have that mindset to just to come out here and to keep firing away? Uh, I say it all the time, you can’t ride the emotional roller coaster of the playoffs, right? Um, you can’t get too high or too low after a win or a loss. Um, and you know, our core group, we’ve been together for a long time. We’ve been in so many different environments and different circumstances. Um, so it’s just about, you know, staying together and figuring it out. We’ve talked about it all season long, the timelessness of Al Horford, the spark off the bench from Pton Pritchard. Just can you describe the impact that those two in particular had on this game three? Oh man, we we got a really good team, really talented group. Everybody plays a important piece to, you know, make this machine go. Um, and we need everybody and, uh, you know, tonight really showed that. Now, after looking more like yourselves, how do you roll this momentum into game four? Uh, you know, uh, just take it one game at a time. Uh, you know, understanding Monday’s going to be a a great atmosphere. It’s going to be a big game. It’s going to be fun. So, just also a must win, right? Uh, yeah. you know, you want to win every playoff game. So, just coming out with the right mindset, understanding we played better, but you know, we can play a lot better. It’s a lot of things that, you know, we didn’t like that we really did tonight. Um, so just building off that. Thank you, Jason. Congrats on the win. Thank you. All right. So, that’s Jason Tatum on the court, not on the podium, but when he does come to the podium again, Fore now. Thank you. [Music] [Music] [Music] I’m [Music] again. [Music] Okay. [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] my [Music] goch. Right. [Music] [Music] What does he mean? [Music] I’ll call you. [Music] doesn’t change. [Music] I want [Applause] [Music] you. Hello. Hello. Goodbye. [Music] Hey,ch. [Music] Yeah. [Music] [Music]

NBA Gametime reacts to Boston Celtics beat New York Knicks 115-93: Jayson Tatum 22 Pts; Jalen Brunson 27 Pts