:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69364355/1320674016.0.jpg)
So, Game 3 didn’t necessarily go as planned. On the bright side, it took 50 points from Jayson Tatum and really the best you could possibly get from Tristan Thompson to beat the Nets - and Kyrie Irving played, well, not great.
The Celtics had to play like their lives depended on it only to barely take down the Nets.
Feeling good, Nets fans? Or is panic setting in at all?
Sunday night the Nets will look to pick up a road win and take a 3-1 series lead against the Celtics.
After the game, in or lose, we’ll be on Clubhouse talking Game 3 LIVE.
https://www.clubhouse.com/join/netsdaily/w2klkM7O/xXQE9npW
WHO: Brooklyn Nets (2-1) at Boston Celtics (1-2)
WHEN: 7:00 PM EST
WHERE: TNT (national tv), YES (local), WFAN-FM (radio)
Control the boards, control the game. The Nets won the rebounding battle in the two games at Barclays which helped propel them to victory. Boston won the boards in game three thanks in large part to Tristan Thompson. TT picked the right time to have his best game in green and Brad Stevens’ guys are going to need it again if they want to even the series up.
For the Nets, the center duo of Blake Griffin and Nicolas Claxton will need to bring a little bit more to the table tonight. Young bigs making their first appearances in the postseason tend to struggle, so it’s no surprise the young bull has been up and down in these three games. Just gotta keep playing and working it out. As for Griffin, the Celtics have been doing a great job of exploiting the weaknesses in his game on defense and Blake has had his struggles for the most part.
Without Green, the Nets are down their most versatile big (other than KD) so it’ll be interesting to see how Steve Nash and the coaching staff try to compensate for the loss. I’ve seen some calls for Nash to expand the rotation to get guys like DeAndre Jordan or an Alize Johnson in to help on the glass. We’ll see what they do.
For more on the Celtics, check out Celtics Blog.