Jayson Tatum had a game high 39 points on Saturday night as the Boston Celtics defeated the Brooklyn Nets 109-103 in Game 3 of an NBA Eastern Conference First Round Playoff series at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Boston now leads the best of seven 3-0.
Brooklyn got off to a strong start as they did in a game two loss in Boston, going up 12-5 early on a three-pointer by Kevin Durant. The Celtics took their first lead on a Tatum three-pointer, and the guests led 30-25 after one quarter. They kept that momentum going scoring the first seven points of the second for a 37-25 advantage. Payton Pritchard continued his solid play off the bench scoring 10 points in the first half. The Nets fought back as Bruce Brown was big again puting up 16 points, as they would cut it to 51-50 on a three-pointer by Patty Mills. Boston led 53-50 at the halftime break, again holding down Durant who only had seven points on 3-5 shooting.
Yet another seven points in a row by Boston to start the third quarter pushed the lead back to 10. Brooklyn would cut it to just two, before a Celtics run again increased it back to 75-65 finished off with a fast break three point play by Tatum. Mills helped finish off a 7-0 Nets run to again widdle the lead down to three with a three-pointer with 1:15 left in the period, but the green would finish the quarter strong. A putback layup by Marcus Smart, a jumper by Smart, and a fastbreak dunk by Jaylen Brown made it 81-72 headed to the fourth. Blake Griffin was a spark for Brooklyn off the bench as they tried to battle back. Griffin hit three-pointers on consecutive possessions to get them within 88-84, but Tatum and Jaylen Brown were too much scoring the next eight points. Tatum hit a three-pointer, and then after a Griffin three-point miss, Brown knocked down a jumper. After a Nets timeout, Grant Williams came up with a steal that led to a three point play by Tatum to make it 96-84 with 6:25 left to play. The lead went to as many as 15 with 3:12 remaining. Brooklyn did get it down to five in the final minute, but two free throws and a fastbreak dunk by Tatum in the closing seconds iced it.
Tatum added five rebounds, six assists, and six steals to his point total in the win. Jaylen Brown finished with 23 points, four rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Smart had 14 points, six assists, and two steals. Pritchard finished with his 10 points, all in the second quarter. Bruce Brown led Brooklyn with 26 points. Durant and Kyrie Irving had 16 points a piece. Durant did not attempt a field goal over the last 11 minutes and only had 11 shot attempts in 46 minutes. The Nets committed 21 turnovers that led to 37 Celtics points in the loss. Boston goes for the sweep on Monday night in Brooklyn at 7 p.m.
