This felt inevitable.
Ultimately, the Celtics would begin hitting their open 3-pointers. They’ve too many shooters to not.
One resolution by Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau additionally might have served as a catalyst.
After going a brutal 25-for-100 within the opening two video games of the collection, the Celtics hit 50 % of their 3-pointers (20-for-40) in the course of the Knicks’ 115-93 Recreation 3 loss Saturday afternoon at Madison Sq. Backyard. The Knicks shot a brutal 20.0 % (5-for-25) from deep themselves, which means the Celtics had a 45-point benefit from 3-pointers.
“It was just a matter of time,” Jayson Tatum mentioned. “We’re all professionals, we work really hard on our craft, put a lot of time in. You understand there’s times where your shot might not be falling, but you know it always balances out.”
The Knicks’ 5 made 3-pointers had been their fewest of the postseason. There have been solely three regular-season video games through which they’d fewer.
Knicks’ Recreation 3 blowout loss to the Celtics. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Submit
Within the first two video games of the collection, the Celtics shot 25 % (12-for-48) on wide-open 3s (closest defender 6-or-more toes away).
Within the 4 regular-season matchups, the Celtics shot 46.3 % (37-for-80) on wide-open 3s towards the Knicks, which means it was extremely unlikely these capturing woes would proceed for much longer.
And on Saturday, the Celtics lastly made them pay.
“We got open shots, shoot them with confidence, knock them down,” Jaylen Brown mentioned. “We got great shooters on this team. … I think we can even shoot the ball even better and be even more aggressive. As we get more comfortable in this series, hopefully we’ll be able to see that.”
The Knicks reverted to drop protection on screens on Saturday after switching nearly all the pieces in the course of the first two video games of the collection.
Drop protection is what they largely used within the 4 regular-season video games, with tough outcomes, and their switching had appeared to rattle the Celtics a bit within the first two video games of this collection.
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“Obviously they are going to shoot their 3s however they get them,” Jalen Brunson mentioned. “Fortunately for us, they were missing in Games 1 and 2. Tonight they made them. When it comes to our pick-and roll-defense, we are going to have our covers and we’re going to stick to what we do and we’re going to adjust when we need to adjust, but everything we need to do has to be with more intensity and more urgency and more force. Just from that standpoint, it’s not really schematically, it’s more do we want it? And tonight obviously that wasn’t the answer.”
It was a curious resolution from Thibodeau.
“There’s going to be a lot of pick-and-rolls in the game,” Thibodeau mentioned. “What we always do is we evaluate how many were defended well, how many weren’t defended well? How many did they make a tough shot against? Was the scheme executed properly? Was it done with the proper amount of intensity? Was everyone tied together? So we’ll look at all those things.”
