Something had to give.
After Two very improbable return victories of 20 points For New York Knicks in Boston last week, the Celtics had no choice but to make a stand on Saturday in match 3 of the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference.
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Again, Boston went up early, leading up to 25 points in the first half. But this time, the Celtics have never abandoned, standing hard for a victory of 115-93 in a series, the Knicks still lead 2-1.
The Celtics seemed to learn from their errors from the two previous games by remaining concentrated and continuing to cring with a big lead. Of course, this was helped by a better shooting performance while Boston made 12 out of 19 in the first half and 20 out of 40 for the match.
The Celtics continued to ride, extending their advance at 30 points in the third quarter. But if we learned something in the NBA 2025 qualifiers, it is because the tracks do not hold. But this was not the case on Saturday when five Celtics scored two figures, led by the sixth man of the year Payton Pritchard, who had 23 points, including five 3 points. Jayson Tatum also reached 5 3s, finishing with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.
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It would be easy to say that the shooting was the main difference in match 3, but the Celtics also had eight blocks and six interceptions, displaying an implacable energy and vigor which were absent for Boston in the first two games of the series.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 27 points on the shooting of 9 out of 21, while Karl-Anthony Towns was not his best, marking 21 points out of 5 shots and striking 15 rebounds. Towns was supported by a performance of 10 out of 11 from the Launche francs.
Adding to the questions, the cities seemed to strike its left annular already wrapped halfway from the second quarter after hitting a boost and being clogged under pressure. The cities then struck the frank throw and 1, but grabbed the finger while visibly grinning.
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The cities stayed in the game, but sometimes recognized the pain in his finger. We do not know what is the extent of the injury.
Match 4 is at 7:30 p.m. het Monday in New York.
