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Every one of the 4,789 fanatics who entered TD Garden on Friday night got here prepared to boo Kyrie Irving till their voices have been hoarse. But after the Boston Celtics got here away with a stunning one hundred twenty five-119 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series, the ones same fanatics have been doing some thing very specific after they left: chanting Jayson Tatum's name.
Tatum scored 50 factors for the second one immediately sport on this constructing to go together with six rebounds and seven assists in forty one minutes. It turned into a awesome overall performance that became sufficient to triumph over his old teammate Irving, as well as Brooklyn's former MVPs, Kevin Durant and James Harden, to pull the Celtics back into this series.
"It's simply one of those nights," Tatum stated. "Trying to guard home court, trying to get a win at all prices.
"Sometimes, nights like these are wished."
Given that Tatum has scored at the least 50 points four instances in months after by no means having done so in his four-yr NBA career, perhaps he can say with a immediately face it was "just one of those nights" and accept as true with it.
But few gamers can say they could move toe-to-toe with Harden and Durant and pop out on pinnacle. That is exactly what Tatum did, consisting of the shot that were given him to 50 factors, a jumper over Durant with forty one.8 seconds to go that gave Boston a seven-factor lead and all but confident the Celtics could get themselves returned into this collection.
"Just make a play," said Tatum, who earlier than Friday night had scored a mixed 31 factors through the first two video games -- each Celtics losses -- and left Game 2 inside the third quarter after Durant accidentally poked him in the eye. "Obviously, I recognize I had it going but simply looking to see wherein the help changed into, any individual changed into coming, discover an open guy. In the ones conditions, just make the proper play."
While the attention after the sport become focused on Tatum's performance, earlier than the game it was all on Irving, who was making his first look in Boston with lovers in this constructing for the reason that leaving the Celtics in unfastened agency years in the past. He made his first appearance on the court with simply over eight minutes to head at the pregame clock ahead of Friday night's tip and straight away acquired a noisy chorus of boos from the few thousand lovers in attendance as a part of the 25% capacity right here at TD Garden, one with a purpose to be lifted beforehand of Sunday's Game 4.
"Yeah, we are expecting a larger crowd on Sunday," Irving said. "Happy it became a amazing begin to seeing what this environment's gonna be like and simply searching ahead to the assignment."
While those boos quick died down, Irving was loudly booed once more for the duration of player introductions, while his call was referred to as second to last, earlier than Durant and after Harden.
The equal aspect befell every time he touched the ball at some point of the game, with raucous cheers following every ignored shot by using Irving.
"I suggest, it is basketball," Irving stated. "I've been in some environments in my life. So like I stated, as long because it's simply strictly the nature of basketball available, it is not anything greater. I'm cool with it. Going to get a few education with the crew the next day after which get prepared for Sunday, but want to keep it immediately basketball."
Irving had a fantastic season for Brooklyn, becoming considered one of seven gamers to shoot 50% from the field, forty% from three-factor variety and 90% from the foul line for a full season. But he did lots of lacking in Game three, completing with 16 points on 6-for-17 capturing. After going 1-for-5 from the field and scoring simply points inside the first half of -- hitting a pull-up jumper midway thru the second sector over rookie Payton Pritchard -- Irving slowly were given himself into the sport inside the 2nd half of, along with his three-pointer with 7:35 ultimate within the fourth reducing Boston's result in a hundred and five-97.
But he located himself on the wrong aspect of numerous matchups down the stretch defensively, consisting of towards Tatum, a good deal to the delight of the native land lovers, as every body now not named Durant or Harden did next to nothing for Brooklyn. Those blended for eighty factors; upload in Irving's 16 factors, and the rest of the Nets mixed to score 23 on eight-for-25 capturing.
"It changed into massive," Celtics guard Marcus Smart said of limiting Brooklyn's helping solid. "Those men harm us in Game 2 specially. Joe [Harris] went off, I assume, hit seven 3s in Game 2, and that they fed off that. So for us to be able to come down and simply keep them consistent and not let them hurt us as well as the ones guys going off, it became big for us. And for our guys to come in and do exactly what those guys did to us in Game 2, and that is contributing, each ends of the ground, is precisely what we need and we got to preserve that."
The Boston crowd also took possibilities to let Irving recognize how it felt about him at some stage in multiple 2nd-1/2 stoppages. After he fouled Smart on a three-pointer with five:11 to go inside the third, throughout a evaluate to look if the foul might be deemed a flagrant (it became no longer), the crowd went into an prolonged chant of "F--- you, Kyrie."
Then, while Smart and Blake Griffin collided halfway thru the fourth and Smart wished a second to collect himself, the group yelled, "Kyrie sucks!" in the course of the stoppage.
Ultimately, though, this sport got here down to the play of Tatum.
And at the same time as Harden (41 factors, seven rebounds and 10 assists) and Durant (39 points and nine rebounds) have been generally notable, Tatum matched the 2 former league MVPs play for play and shot for shot during this game, willing Boston again into this collection even even as fellow All-Star Jaylen Brown watched from the sideline after present process season-finishing wrist surgical operation earlier this month.
"We realize what he is able to," Nets teach Steve Nash said. "We did a very good job at home, however that is a process it's gonna take a whole lot of resilience and stay there to defend him and to make it tough for him as a group. Put distinctive people on him, be capable of aid individuals who want guide and be able to lock him up when we've guys that could guard him."
Tatum had a few assist, too. Tristan Thompson had his high-quality game as a Celtic, completing with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Smart went for 23 factors and six assists, going eight-for-eleven from the sector, 5-for-8 from three-factor variety and making several key defensive performs. And Evan Fournier completed with 17 factors and five rebounds.
The Celtics matched the Nets in 3s, taking pictures sixteen-of-39 in comparison with 16-of-38 for Brooklyn.
"They tied us in 3s," Durant said. "They hit sixteen 3s in this constructing ... So they were given it going from the three-point line, which is going to hold any group in the sport, and we got to do a better job of contesting.
"They shoot 50% from the field, we can not permit that. Forty-one [percent] from the three? We can't allow that. And get outrebounded? Just got to be higher."
Brooklyn gets a chance to be better Sunday night and, with it, have a risk to reclaim control of this series. But for one night time, as a minimum, Boston was higher, thanks to Tatum outdueling Brooklyn's constellation of stars.
"He's so superior for 23 years old," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "I've said the word 'special.' I do not say that very regularly, glaringly. He simply has a unique capability to score the ball, to slither via seams, to locate angles to attain, but then additionally he is got the imaginative and prescient to make each right study.
"He turned into notable this night."
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