NEW YORK — The Celtics have often been a better road than home team this season, and now, on a much larger stage, they are on the verge of closing out a team that was once thought to be the sleeping giant of the East.
Based on the Celtics’ 109-103 Game 3 win over Brooklyn for a 3-0 first-round series lead, that big sleep continues.
Though Jayson Tatum faded in and out of efficiency, needing 29 shots for his 39-point performance, the threat down the other end never materialized. Kevin Durant (16 points, 6 for 11), gang-covered again by the Celtics defensive scheme, and Kyrie Irving (16) were never able to rise above the defensive challenge. Overall, the mistake-prone Nets turned the ball over 21 times for 37 Celtics points.
Jaylen Brown, who scored nine of 11 Celtics points during one torrid fourth quarter stretch that found the Celtics opening the margin back up, finished with 23 points.
Brown’s burst plus a Tatum corner 3 came in three-minute stretch that gave the Celtics a 93-84 lead. Brooklyn called timeout, and Tatum stole the ball from Blake Griffin, converting the fast break into a three-point play and a 12-point edge with 6:20 left.
Al Horford countered a 4-0 Nets spurt with a corner 3 for a 99-88 lead, Tatum followed with a drive that pushed the lead to 13 points with 3:52 left, and Marcus Smart hit for a 103-88 lead. The Nets ran off four more points and this time Tatum dunked to put it out of reach.
The Celtics answered a 10-3 Brooklyn run late in the third with a quarter-closing 6-0 burst of their own, including a put-back and pull-up jumper from Smart, followed by a Brown drive off the break after Horford stole the ball from the just-subbed-in Griffin.
The result was an 81-72 lead at the start of the fourth, and the Nets were never able to get closer than two points.
Smart’s drive gave the Celtics a 53-50 halftime lead, after they led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter. Tatum had 12 points, Payton Pritchard 10, and in his seven-minute stint, Rob Williams demonstrated that he hasn’t lost anything around the rim. Durant (seven points) and Irving (10) were once again relatively quiet.
The Nets turned the ball over on four of their first five possessions of the third, but were also able to answer a 7-0 Celtics run with an 8-0 burst of their own that cut the Celtics lead to 60-58 on two Irving free throws.
But the Nets couldn’t close the gap further. Tatum’s three-point play off the break was good for a 75-65 lead with 3:13 left in the third, though it came in the midst of a 10-3 Nets run that closed the margin in a hurry to 75-72.
