Joe Mazzulla has explained what changed for the Boston Celtics in their 115-93 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their second round series.
After going down 0-2, the Boston Celtics needed a big response in the game at Madison Square Garden.
They shot poorly from three-point range in Games 1 and 2 of the series, going 25-100 from beyond the arc, but that changed in Game 3 as Joe Mazzulla‘s men shot 20-40 to take the win.
Jayson Tatum, who took ownership of the defeat in the first two games of the series on himself, played brilliantly in Game 3 as he scored 22 points and also contributed with nine rebounds and seven assists.
Payton Pritchard led the scoring for the Celtics off the bench as he contributed with 23 points.
After the game, Mazzulla revealed what the team did differently in Game 3 that helped them secure a convincing win after two largely disappointing defeats.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesJoe Mazzulla believes Celtics took care of the ball
Analysts have been slamming the Celtics for their reliance on three-pointers after defeats in the first two games.
However, the fact is that the team were just having an off night and that was not the case in Game 3, which is why they punished the New York Knicks on any open looks.
When asked if the threes falling is what helped the team to a win, Mazzulla said: “No, I mean that’s the easy thing to look at but we won the end of quarters and we didn’t have 11 live ball turnovers.
“I can’t stress to you the importance of not throwing the ball to the other team so that they get out in transition and they had 28 points on transition in Game 2.”
The Celtics had only 11 turnovers in Game 3, which was the fewest they had in the series against the Knicks and they conceded only 14 points from it, which was great.
“Not ending quarters well, when it’s at 20 and it gets to 12 with 58 seconds left, you have end quarters, you have to start quarters well, you have to value the basketball, you have to win the margins.
“That’s all we talked about in the last 72 hours and that’s the most important,” he added.
Joe Mazzulla on the last 72 hours for the Celtics
The Celtics have been heavily criticised by the media after losing the first two games of the series.
Despite having lead for considerable amount of time in the series, the Celtics have lost games after giving up massive leads, including a 20-point advantage in Game 2.
However, even after that Mazzulla stated the last 72 hours were not difficult for the team.
He said: “I’ve said it a 1000 times, there is no one way of how it is suppose to go.
“You get caught up when your expectations aren’t met, there is no expectations here, we are on the path of trying to go after greatness and you don’t get to dictate the test that’s in front of you, all you get to dictate is how you approach it and try to respond to it.
“We plan doing this for a long time and trust me it’ll be a lot worse than the last 72 hours and that’s the perspective you gotta have and at the end of the day we got a test in front of us and we’ve got guys that I wouldn’t want anyone else to be able to go through that.
“This is the fun part, you don’t get into the journey for it to be easy. It’s been dark, but in a good way.”
From hereon out, the Celtics could switch back on and turn the series around to make another trip to the Conference Finals.
They looked extremely positive and will be hoping to continue their strong performance for the remainder of the postseason as well.