THE BUBBLE — Just when the we all thought that the Boston Celtics were about to get ran out of the Eastern Conference Finals. They did like my mother used to say, “Showed up and showed out” in Game 3. They finally held on to a lead without relinquishing it and when the smoke cleared they were walking out of the joint with a 117-106 win. Now they’re only down 2-1 in the the best-of-seven-series which is manageable.
They attacked the rack from the word go with Jaylen Brown leading the way with 26 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Jayson Tatum came through strong with 25 points, 14 rebounds and a game high 8 assists. Kemba Walker was NOT playing with these boyz as he dropped off 21 points followed by Marcus Smart’s 20.
Not only were they scoring and attacking the Heat. They played hella-defense holding Miami to only 39 percent shooting from the field and a mere 27 percent from 3-point range.
Bam Adebayo held the Heat down with 27 points and a massive 16 rebounds as all five starters scored in double figures. Tyler Herro came off of the bench to score 22 points but it wasn’t enough to keep the Celtics from running away with the game.
In the previous two games Boston has blown a 14 point lead in Game 1 only to lose in overtime and a 17 point lead in Game 2. Finishing the job has been their problem. On Saturday night they weren’t trying to have that happen again.
Jaylen Brown after the game had this to say, “There’s some great guys in that locker room. A lot of emotion, a lot of passion, but we’re a family and we’re here for each other at the end of the day. We exemplified that when we came out together … we kept our will high and we persevered to win this game.”
Now it’s on to Game 4 and it will me interesting to see how the Heat respond to being completely overwhelmed by the Celtics in Game 3.
