After letting an early 15-point lead slip away, the Brooklyn Nets spent the rest of the night chasing another one in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
They never quite got there.
The Celtics held off the Nets down the stretch and now Brooklyn will head into Sunday’s Game 4 with a 2-1 lead in the series after a 125-119 loss at TD Garden.
That double-digit lead from the opening minutes was gone by the end of the first quarter, and the Nets trailed by 10 before halftime. When Brooklyn finally got even at 75 midway through the third quarter, the Celtics broke out on a 16-2 run and took a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter.
The closest the Nets got after that was four points on a Kevin Durant 3-pointer with 21.5 seconds left before the Celtics closed it out.
“They played well,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “I think they were a little desperate and became the aggressor after our hot start. They were the ones looking to drive the ball. They were looking to step in on threes and they got themselves going and so they took the momentum, their crowd with them. They started to feel a little confidence for the first time in the three games and we didn’t get enough stops.”
Harden finished with 41 points for the third 40-point game in the franchise’s playoff history, and with Durant scoring 39, they became the second set of Nets teammates to score 30-plus points in the same playoff game.
In shooting 7-for-12 from 3-point range, Harden matched the franchise playoff record for 3-pointers in a game that Joe Harris had tied on Sunday. He shot 11-for-18 overall and 12-for-13 from the free throw line and added 10 assists to record a double-double, plus seven rebounds.
“As much as we don’t want to lose, this probably was good for us, especially after our last game when we played so well,” said Harden. “This was a good reminder for us that things aren’t going to be so easy. We wanted to come here and get a win tonight. Now we’ve got to lock back in and watch the film and continue to get better. Still, this is our 10th game together, so we’ve still got a lot of learning as far as together and individually that we’ve got to do. But I think just continue to watch film and get better. Every single day, we get better whether we’re playing the game or tomorrow we’re watching the film and preparing ourself mentally.”
Durant shot 13-for-24, made four 3-pointers and grabbed nine rebounds with four steals. Kyrie Irving had 16 points, but Durant, Harden, and Irving were the only Brooklyn players to score in double figures. The Nets were efficient from 3-point range, shooting 42.1 percent, but shot 45.2 percent for the game. Aside from Durant and Harden, the Nets shot 33.3 percent and their 16 assists were the fewest of the season.
“I thought for big portions we got a little stagnant,” said Nash. “We got away from our movement. I thought James was scoring in isolation, Kevin was scoring in isolation, but I still think that we can be more difficult to guard in general if we move the ball and get to isolations as a second resort. Again, like I said, we’ve gotta learn from this, take something from it. How can we refine what we’re doing and add this to our experiences.”
Brooklyn led 19-4 less than four minutes into the game as Harden scored 10 quick points before a Harris 3-pointer put the Nets up by 15. But the Celtics got eight straight points after a timeout, then closed the first quarter with a 10-0 run for a 33-32 lead. Boston led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter before Brooklyn closed out the half with an 8-2 run to get back within 61-57 at halftime.
Down 72-64 four minutes into the third quarter, the Nets ran off nine straight points as Harden drew a goaltend, followed up with two free throws, and then Durant hit a 3-pointer and Irving dropped in a pull-up jumper. Durant got the Nets even at 75, making 2-of-3 free throws.
But the Celtics answered with a 16-2 run and stretched their lead to 17 points before the Nets cut it to 96-84 going into the fourth quarter.
Boston pushed its lead to 16 points before Harden converted a 3-point play to begin a 10-2 Brooklyn run, with Irving’s 3-pointer bringing the Nets within 105-97 with 7:35 to go. Harden and Irving combined for Brooklyn’s first 18 points of the fourth quarter, but even as they went on to whittle the lead to six, to five, to four finally on that next-to-last possession, the Celtics had an answer every time.
“We didn’t get stops when it mattered and for large portions of the game,” said Nash. “We gave up 125 points. It’s just too many big quarters for them — they had high 20s or 30s all four quarters. Not a great performance but it could be good for us. So new, for us to face a little adversity to go through some of these battles and challenges and pick ourselves up and look over some things tomorrow and come back on Sunday.”
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Celtics 125, Nets 119: Brooklyn Drops Game 3 in Boston - Brooklynnets.com
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