Celtics vs. Knicks Game 3: Boston shoots 50% from 3, never trails while cruising to first win in series

The phrase of the day is “shooting variance.”

After shooting 25% on 3-pointers through the first two games against New York, Boston found its rhythm in Game 3 and hit 20-of-40 3-pointers, or 50%.

Everything else in Game 3 flowed out of the Celtics’ hot shooting and went their way. After blowing two 20-point third-quarter leads in the first two games, the Celtics got their lead on Saturday up to 31 and that was more than the Knicks were going to overcome.

Boston never trailed, led by double-digits with four minutes left in the first quarter, and it never got closer than that as the Celtics cruised to a 115-93 win in Madison Square Garden.

New York still leads the series 2-1, but it felt like Boston got its identity and groove back in Game 3. Now, Game 4 on Monday becomes critical. If Boston ties up the series, it will have all the momentum heading home for Game 5.

“You gotta beat us four times,” Jaylen Brown said. “That’s what it comes down to — not twice, not once, not three times. Four games. So it’s a lot of basketball to be played.”

Boston’s spacing was much better and Jayson Tatum took full advantage, having by far his best game of the series, scoring 22 points with nine rebounds and seven assists. Payton Pritchard scored 23 points, Jaylen Brown had 19 and Derrick White 17 for Boston.

For the Knicks, the adjustment is clear: They can’t fall behind by 20+ points again and expect to be able to come back. New York again came out a little flat, but this time could not flip the switch and the vibe around the series started to shift.

“I don’t think we came with the mindset of being satisfied, but I think it was just subconsciously satisfied being up 2-0,” Jalen Brunson said. “Just not the way we need to approach the game.”

Brunson led the Knicks with 27 points on 9-of-21 shooting, with seven assists as well. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 21 but the bigger question was about the hand injury he suffered during the game, although he was clearly bothered by it the rest of the game. Some online sleuths doing lip reading thought Towns said he broke something. When asked about this postgame, Towns only said, “It is what it is,” and that he will be on the court for his teammates.

New York will need a big Towns’ game, a much faster start and a lot of things to go their way Monday night, or this will be a best-of-three series.