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Locked On Celtics - Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics
CELTICS POSTCAST- Celtics Lead Wire-to-Wire in Convincing Game 3 Win vs. Knicks
00:26:53
The Boston Celtics picked up their 1st win of the Eastern Conference Semi-Final series with a (115-93) win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden Saturday afternoon. The Celtics still trail the Semi-Final series, 2 games to 1 with the road team winning each of the 1st 3 games. The Celtics led wire-to-wire and led by 31 several times during the 3rd Quarter. The Knicks never got the deficit below 20 points in the 2nd Half. ----- Scoring Leaders: The Celtics had 5 players reach double-figures in their Game 3 victory. Payton Pritchard hit 5 3's and scored 23 off the Bench. Jayson Tatum hit 5 3's and scored 22. Jaylen Brown scored 19. Derrick White added 17. Tatum also had 9 Rebounds & 6 Assists. Al Horford hit 3 3's and had 15 Points & 8 Rebounds. -----
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Steve Lennox
Foreign.
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Steve Lennox
On Fox one. You can string Fox's biggest moments live. Get out bigger. I can feel the sweat and I can SM smell it over bigger. That was genius. Yeah, that's what we talking about. Fox 1. We live for live streaming now.
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Locked On Celtics Host
You are Locked on Celtics Postcast part of Locked on Sports Boston on the Locked on podcast network your team every day.
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Steve Lennox
Well that's one and that's more like it. Celtics knocking down threes, defending on one end, sharing the basketball on the other end. One trend continued for the Celtics in game three versus The Knicks. One trend also ended with the Knicks never getting close in the second half. Welcome to our latest Locked on Celtics playoff postcast. I'm Steve Lennox, longtime college basketball play by play announcer, national show host, ESPN radio, satellite radio, watch Celtics games on a black and white TV as a kid. Yeah, we had color TV too. But in my bedroom it was a small black and white TV that helped me watch the Celtics on a channel out of Hartford, Connecticut. You are Locked on with our latest Locked On Celtics postcast providing reaction every Celtics playoff game on the Locked On Sports Boston YouTube channel as well as the Locked on Celtics podcast feed which you know is free and available wherever you get your podcast. On our latest Locked On Celtics postcast, we're going to talk about the Celtics getting back in this series. Still down a game but Pritchard was terrific. Derrick White was terrific. Balanced attack. And Al Horford. Yes, he's long in the tooth. Yes he's approaching 40. But yes, he's still got a lot in the tank. We do want to hear from you, our everydayers and our first timers. Join the conversation watching live with us on the lockdown sports Boston YouTube channel first thank you. Hit that comment button. Don't be a stranger and join the Celtics conversation. Give us your one random thought on the Celtics first win of this series against the Knicks. The visiting team has held serve so far over the first three games. Well, the Celtics led wire to wire, one tie early on. They took a 10 point lead in the first quarter and went from there, opened up on a 72 run. And the Celtics with the ball in the final possession of the first quarter, near turnover, got it back with about 6.2 to go. Pritchard knocked down a baseline jumper. Pritchard seven points in the first quarter. And the Celtics just two turnovers in the first quarter. And they were knocking down three six of seven from behind the three point line. I think they started four of four, but 58% overall and up by 16 after the first quarter. Mike Brain said it. In the second half the Knicks got it to 20, but that's as close as they got. They never made this really a game. In the second half they trailed by 20, but they never got it in the teams. They never got it below 15. And Tom Thibodeau talking with the media, talking with ABC TV just before the start of the fourth quarter, you know what they wanted to do? They wanted to go on a run. Not their best run of the game, but all of a sudden they knocked down a couple of threes, including three in a row. At the start of the fourth quarter. Brunson hit a three within 20 timeout. Three threes, nine three start. Brunson up to 25 at that point in time. And I think Joe Missoula used his timeouts a lot better than he did in the first two games. A lot of these timeouts are structured, but the Knicks never went on a 100 run. I think the best run they had was eight straight and they never got it below 20 in the second half. And the Celtics were balanced. Yes, they knocked down threes. You figured at some point in this series they were going to knock down threes. They were 50% overall and they've shot well from distance at Madison Square Garden during the regular season. And now their first game at MSG and the crowd raucous. Yeah, but even in that first quarter, you never really thought that the Celtics were intimidated by it or were going to not get, you know, be affected by it at all.
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Locked On Celtics Host
This is what you'll be talking about.
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Steve Lennox
Peyton Pritchard was terrific and the Celtics absolutely needed it. Al Horford again in the starting lineup, 34 plus minutes, 6 of 9 from the field, 3 of 4 on the three point line. Horford had 15 points, one rebound shy of a double double. And he had two block shots, eight block shots total for the Celtics. Physical play, contact on block shots, yes. But Horford terrific in the starting lineup. Porzingis played almost 20 minutes, 0 of 3 from the field, 5 of 6 at the line. And Doris Berg said it just, it looks like he hasn't had minutes to really catch his breath and kind of get going for the Celtics. But I think he got, you know, got the time on the floor in the second half and that could prove vital as long as he's healthy. And Pritchard again just from the get go, knocking down shots and it was great to see and it was needed. Celtics never trailed in the first half and led by as many as 31 on a couple of occasions in that third quarter. And then six minute markup by 23, 104.81. Holiday knocked down a three to put it up to put the Celtics up 24 and just again balanced. Mike Breen said at the end, Celtics responding. It was a championship response for the Celtics. And I'll tell you what, right now the trend that continued was the Celtics jumped out to a big lead, but over the previous two games we know well, chronicled plenty of talk about. And the Knicks got back into the game in the second half and ultimately won the first two. In Boston, the trend of coming back in the second half did not happen and the Celtics didn't allow it to happen. Now did they continue to put up threes? You're going to live and die by it. But there were a couple of threes in that fourth quarter. Tatum again gets into that mode where it's just dribble, dribble, dribble and Tatum dribbling into a second defender, it turns into a turnover 50% of the time more often than not. And Tatum had an okay game. But you're talking about Jason Tatum right now. Eight of 20, but five of nine on the three point line ended up with 22. And there was a three point attempt in that fourth quarter, hit the backboard, everyone sort of flat footed. Tatum ran inside the three point line, got the loose ball and went to the rim. But that three, and they alluded to it with Mike Breen, Doris Burke, Richard Jefferson, I think it was Doris Burke who said, you know, no one touched the ball in a particular possession. He took the shot with 14 on the shot clock. You had a huge lead at that point in time. Move the Ball around, get something going to the basket. And they did have opportunities getting to the basket more. Missed some layups early on, which I thought, oh, this is, you know, not great looks, but, you know, maybe contact bumped here off their path to the basket. Pritchard missed one. Pritchard got fouled and had two free throws when he was passing the ball and ended up passing it right to a Knicks player when he was in the paint area near the rim. That was in the first half. But overall, you'll take it. Celtic shot 48 from the field. Overall, the Knicks were just 40. But I ask you this as we get into your comments, at what point did you start to feel comfortable? At what point did you know the Celtics were going to take it or take it and go from there? And at any point on Saturday in the Celtics lopsided game three victory where they were one wire to wire, did you get this thought? The Celtics at the very least should be up to one in the series. But if you really wanted to get greedy in your thought process, the Celtics right now, now I don't like doing this because while, you know, you know, well, things had played out differently in the first two games, well, the Knicks could have come home backs to the wall and played with more of an inspired effort and not been down by as many as 31 on their home floor in game three. But even if the Celtics had won, split at home after the Knicks lost, they'd be up 2:1 with one more in new York and then back to Boston for Game 5. And I think there's an advantage for the Celtics right now with game four Monday night. Again, the crowd, hey, what's the cheer about now? They tried and they got the defense chance going and things like that at Madison Square Garden early on in the fourth quarter and they knocked down three threes. Brunson had two of them. They were into it. But the Celtics were just not on this day in game three going to allow the Celtics to get back or the Knicks rather get back into the game. And I love the fact that the lead never got below 20 in the second half. I think the, the Celtics have a real advantage with Game 4 Monday night in New York. It's not a Thursday, it's not a Friday at the start of the weekend. It's not on a Saturday, it's on a Monday. And if the Celtics get up by 20 or more, even if it's 15 or more in the first half Monday night, I think it's going to be awfully hard for the Knicks to get back in it. Now, does the day of the week matter? Maybe not, but it is on a Monday night right now. Celtics, best case scenario, you're 2:2 going home for game five this upcoming Wednesday night. Five players in double figures. Pritchard off the bench leading the way, 23s. And we do numbers tonight, normally in segment number two, but one of those things for the Celtics. High assist total, high three point total in terms of makes, and they made 20. But 23 assists, that might be the most assist they've had in a playoff game so far. But on the other side of that, the assist to turnover ratio, right, 23 assists total. Tatum had seven to lead the way. Jalen Brown had five assists, but it was balanced and they shared the basketball. And on the other side of that, Derek White, I thought, did a terrific job handling the ball, push pace when he could. Eight turnovers total for the Celtics. Love it. Love those numbers. 23s, yes. But the 23 assists. Love that number. And that's two turnovers per quarter. And that's about what you want to see. Let's hit the comments with us on the Lockdown Sports Boston YouTube channel. Hit that comment button and join the conversation. The real Darrell starts us off. Don't let us get one. Yeah. And this. And the Celtics have one. Now you want to be greedy, just like the Knicks in game one. You won game one. Don't think you're gonna. Don't be happy with a split in Boston. No. Go get game two. And they did similar Game one, Game two, fall behind big and then come back, take the lead late and hold on to the lead with a defensive stand. But now the Celtics, don't let them win game one. Win a game. Well, 30 is a lot different than 20 in a playoff series. We know the numbers, but the Celtics get one. That's the old Kevin Millar line for the Red Sox back in 2004. Down three zero to the Yankees. Don't let us get one. And you've got one with Pritchard having a terrific game off the bench. Does Tatum explode in game four? Because again, this is sort of. And it's not just Tatum, but it's Brown, too. You're down 20 and you lose the first two at home. That's legacy. That's something that's going to stick to the resume for Jason Tatum for a long time. If you lose the series after having home court advantage. But now you can get it back to 2:2. And if you can have a signature game in Game 4. Tatum really hasn't had that yet. He gets his. But where's a 40 point performance for Jason Tatum in the playoffs so far? Hasn't come. Maybe it doesn't, but it could. Maybe it comes in game four. So again, the real Darrell right on. Hit the nail right on the head. Don't let us get one. Well, that's happened now a day off in New York on Sunday. Regroup, get ready to go. What do the Knicks do? I mean, you've been down 20 plus in each of the first three games. You're still up in the series and you've got the next game at home. But those trends for the Knicks right now, the Celtics have been the better team for three quarters plus in each of the first three games. Wire to wire victory in game three. And the Celtics, I think again needed a victory just like they got in game three. Akram, now that's how we play. Yeah, the game was clean. Fourth could have been better. It could have. But that the fourth quarter is tough in games like that. Again, you. They did not allow him to go on an extended run where it was like 15:2 or 17:4. And they never got the deficit below 20. I think that speaks volumes. You won each of the first three quarters and you had 71 points at the half, up 71 to 46. That was a big lead at the half. And the Celtics closed strong at the end of the first, did the same throughout the second quarter. And then you still extend the lead. Granted it's just one point, but that still extended the lead in that third quarter. You scored 19 points in the fourth quarter. Final couple of minutes, bench on the floor, they're kind of instructed, you know, hey, you know, don't really put shots up here. So yeah, fourth quarter could have been better, but still you win by 20 plus. The real derail, Celtics are getting wide open looks they missed in game one and game two. Yeah, and that's where I think. Where's the adjustment by the Knicks? Because the Celtics, different than the first two games, they're still getting those open looks. And in game three different. They knocked them down. A lot of times. They were going for that home run and that final nail in the coffin in the first two games, just staying on that three point line. But 25 of 100 on threes in the first two games and you knocked down 20 of 40. You've taken 143s in the first three games of this series. PK tattoos massacre from start to finish. Yeah. And you know what? You want another One, you don't want to go home down three, three to one for game five. You don't, because then you would be going home for game five. You'd need to win that. Well, now it's three two going back to New York. And you're gonna have to win three in a row in this series. Really. You don't want them getting to the point where they come to Madison Square Garden or TD Garden in the coming games where they've got one more win to advance the Eastern Conference finals. You want to keep them at two wins. Can you win four in a row? Absolutely. But you have to maintain opening tip all the way throughout the game. They never relented in game number three, the rail derail. Getting points in transition. Open up the offense. Yeah. And they got to continue to do that. McTagger, I believe at 523 or so, I think it was. Drew had a huge three. I was reasonably confident before that, but that was the dagger. Yeah. And that was the 18th three of the game when Holiday hit a three. And Holiday had good defense on Brunson. Yeah. Holiday 18 three of the game. That put him up by 24. And then Tatum also hit a three with under three and a half. It was a 23 point lead. And then Horford hit the 20th three of the game for the Celtics to make it 115.89. So, yeah, that. That three by the run wasn't coming because the Knicks, although they hit three threes early on in the fourth quarter, that was sort of the barrage. And you're not going to beat the Celtics when you allow them to make 23s and you go 5 of 25. And really, you know, it could have been 15 or more threes. You've got to be within striking distance in terms of the makes. And the Knicks, I don't think have that volume. Can they get it in one game? Yes. Are they going to do that consistently over a series? No. And I think we saw that PK Tattoos, defense key. Yes. I liked how Joe called a timeout right after they stopped playing defense once. Yeah. And he got into Tatum once or twice. I think it was when Tatum dribbled into the sideline and had a second defender there and lost the basketball. And Missoula got on him pretty good. We're going to continue with your comments and we'll get into more numbers of the night. And again, I think the fact that game four is on a Monday night, that's advantageous to the Celtics for Monday night as they're going to try to even up the series at two games a piece and hold serve on the road. Locked on Celtics Postcast Talking about the Celtics Game three victory against the Knicks at Madison Square garden. Presented by DoorDash NBA fans, you know what time it is. It's playoff season, which means big performances and even bigger rewards. DoorDash is bringing the heat with a slam dunk deal for DoorDash members during the 2025 NBA playoffs. It's called they Swoosh. You Score. 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Locked On Celtics Host
Time to reveal where the game was won or lost. It's the turning point really in the.
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Steve Lennox
Third quarter for me because the Celtics got it up to 31 on several occasions and end up winning. Still going away. 20 plus point victory. And again, number of the night for the Celtics six time in their first eight playoff games where they hold their opponent below 100 points. And in that fourth quarter you're just thinking there's no way with how this game's played out through the first 36, 42 minutes where the Knicks all of a sudden we're going to get stops on one end and then shots and made shots at the other end, including on the three point line. Mitchell Robinson, by the way, starting to hit some of his free throws. I talked about Tatum not yet having a signature game in this series and really so far in the playoffs as well. But Carl Anthony Towns, you know, the Knicks pick him up for, for this, for the Knicks series and for the Cavaliers if they can get there, if the Cavaliers can get to the Eastern Conference finals. But it's just interesting that Carl Anthony Towns and I don't know what it is and I really don't want to find out. I don't think Celtic fans want to find out either. But this is a guy who's absolutely capable of 30 and 20. Not that he takes plays off or disappears on the floor, but sometimes a shot selection is a little off. Maybe. You know, Tatum in the game three victory against Orlando had 36 and then had 37. You know, he, he had three great games, 23 and 13 in the first two games of the series, both losses against the Knicks and ending up with 22 points. Great percentage from the 3 point line, 5 of 9, but 8 of 20 overall and just one free throw attempt. So again, got Inside couple times, shot clock winding down or still with plenty of time on the clock, electing to take shots with a defender right there. But again, I'd like to see Tatum game four, 30 plus. I think that ends up with a victory for the Celtics. And if they win game four, it's 2:2 going back to Boston for game five, which would be Wednesday night. I don't know what I mean. The crowd's going to be. The crowd at Madison Square Garden. They're going to be into it. But again, Monday night compared to, and I know I'm harping on this, but Monday night compared to a Friday or even a late Saturday afternoon. And maybe the schedule makers helped the Celtics out where it was a late afternoon game, it wasn't a seven or eight o' clock start, or they might have been even more raucous. But I really do think it could quite possibly hedging my bet a little bit there, that Game four on a Monday night in New York could benefit the Celtics. Am I grasping there? Maybe a little bit. Maybe a little bit. Wrap up with some more of your comments, Sebastian. I wish JB could play with the Brunson rules. He should have 15 free throws. You know, Brunson plays very physically, kind of. I, I didn't, I saw Al Horford kind of go flying a couple of times. I didn't see the replay. I may have left the room for a moment away from the tv. There are a couple times in this game, and I love Jalen Brunson. Cover the Mavericks a few years ago on their radio network. And I love Bronson. I really didn't, you know, it was, it was kind of obvious he was going to end up in New York. That's where he wanted to go, and he went there. But he gets a little chippy. You know, he gets bumped around an awful lot, very physical for his size, but he'll mix it up as well. And Horford all of a sudden is on the ground. And Horford got up and he's basically talking to the official. But what he was saying was for Jalen Brunson, who wasn't that far away, and on the ABC broadcast, they're like, you know, these are two of the nicest guys going in the NBA. Lauren Jackson, I think it's Lauren. I. If it's not, I apologize. Pritchard, please come through again. You know what? He did big time and they needed it. And Cornette, in his time on the floor also did a nice job. He played just under 10 minutes. He had six points couple of rebounds, kept some possessions alive and knew how to block shot and knew that, you know, hey, I've got to use my fouls here. And again, Mitchell Robinson knocked down a handful of free throws. A handful. He was still 4 of 12 from the free throw line. And the Celtics, with this, the way they're going about it as part of their game plan, executed better. So game four one time, no lead changes. Celtics win, wire to wire 115.93, led by as many as 31. Again, that was on multiple occasions in that third quarter, five players in double figures. You'll take that. I gave you the assist total. I Love that. Number 23 to go with just eight turnovers. Take care of the basketball and share the basketball. Do it again Monday and you're two, two in this series going back to Boston for a game number five. And then if you win game five, you win three in a row, you've got two chances to close it out. You go up three, two in this series, the way it's kind of played out, if you can win three straight, you come back to New York. There's a possibility if you're up 32 that you can close out and win all three games in New York. Now, did you put yourself in a hole? Absolutely. Do you want to do that again in the Eastern Conference finals against the Pacers or Cavaliers? Absolutely not. Do you want to do that in the NBA finals against possibly okc, maybe Denver? No, you don't. You don't want to put yourself in this situation. And you're not out of the hole yet because you could easily go back to Boston for game five, down three games to one and your season, your playoff season on the line. So we'll be with you within minutes of the final buzzer Monday night for game four. Hopefully we're talking about the Celtics evening this series up at two games a piece. We've had a lot of Nick fans on board with us on the lockdown. Celtics postcast over the first three games. Hey, glad we're glad you're with us so far. I commend everyone. It's been civil. Keep it that way. But Nick fans, right now, you gotta be a little worried that you're falling down big. You've come back twice, unable to do it on your home floor with the Celtics winning game three and now down two games to one in the series with game four again Monday night Celtics, a good victory. I have to feel good about it. Locked on sports. Boston number one place to hang out immediately after every game Locked on sports. Your team, your Celtics looking for a second straight NBA title every day. Foreign.
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Steve Lennox
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