SOUND OFF: C’s Silence Crazed MSG Crowd as Pritchard Catches Fire

Payton Pritchard outscored New York’s entire bench all by himself while the Celtics offense returned to its dominant ways while racking up 20 makes from long distance. A raucous crowd at Madison Square Garden did nothing to harm Boston – and actually may have done the opposite – as the ‘road dogs’ continued to pile up wins on the road this season. We’re sounding off on it all, including observations from start to finish of Game 3, to Kristaps Porzingis’ health, to what to expect in Monday’s Game 4.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Down off with me, folks on Game three being the
games where the Boston Celtics finally held on to their
twenty point lead. That's right, they pulled ahead by twenty
two points early on in the second quarter, and they
were not giving it away this time. That's what they
did in games one and two. That is not what
they did today. Today, the Celtics had all the answers.

(00:29):
It was big shots, it was big stops, it was
great decisions. Everything you need to do to win NBA
playoff games. And as we all know, this is a
team and a group that's won plenty of them. This
is a team and a group that just won a
championship last season. This should not be surprising. This is
what we all should expect. The Celtics finally looked like

(00:51):
themselves during this game, and that was a great thing
to see. The defense just continues to be strong. Okay,
they've played at a very high level in all three
games of the series, but today the offense came along
for the ride. It was great to see twenty made
three pointers. Remember everyone knows the numbers twenty five for

(01:13):
one hundred from long range over the first couple of games.
Today they made twenty three pointers alone in this single game.
They shoot forty eight percent from the field, fifty percent
from distance. They logged how many assists in this game
twenty three assists in this game. Over the first couple
of games, they averaged only seventeen and a half assists

(01:34):
per game. So the offense was finally back in rhythm.
This is the Celtics team that we all saw win
sixty plus games this season. This is the Celtics team
that New York avoided in games one and two. And
speaking of that, it is conceivable that the Celtics could

(01:57):
very well be up three games to none right now.
And I don't want to live in the past, but
we should talk about this. The Celtics lost Game one
and overtime by three points. They lose Game two in
the final seconds by one point, and now at this point,

(02:18):
after dominating Game three, there are only a couple makes away,
I guess, a couple misses away from being up three
games to none. And you cannot say that about the
team on the other side. Yes they do. The Knicks
have a two to one series lead, but they are
not a couple plays away from being up three to zero.

(02:42):
Like this was a dominant performance by the Celtics. There's
no question about it. They were excellent during this game
at both ends of the court and that is why
they are back in this series. And speaking from my perspective,
this is what I expected today. I expected this. I

(03:04):
think the Celtics expected this. Listen before this game, right
before the game started, I posted this literally right before
tip off. Everyone who's down at the arena at MSG,
and unfortunately I was not there, but everyone who was
down there was sending out posts about oh my god,
the atmosphere is incredible. I've never seen MSG with this

(03:26):
much energy. This is just a crazy environment. So I
posted this, I said, hearing that the atmosphere inside MSG
is off the charts. Fortunately for the Celtics, they've thrived
in these environments the past couple of seasons. Time to
find out if that will continue. This afternoon, well, newsflash,

(03:52):
after a one to fifteen to ninety three win, it continued.
Remember these are the guys, These are the Celtics that
call themselves the road dogs. They bark at each other
literally before they take the court for road games. These
are the guys that set a new record for the

(04:13):
most wins on the road in franchise history. This is
the Celtics we're talking about. This is the most loaded
franchise in the game of basketball when it comes to history.
And this Celtics team set the record this season for
the most wins on the road thirty three to eight,

(04:38):
the second best road record in the history of the NBA,
the best road record in the history of the Celtics,
but the second best road record in the history of
the NBA. These guys thrive in hostile environments and that's

(04:59):
what they played in every night this season because remember
they are the defending champs. So every road game they played,
that road arena, that road crowd, they were bringing the goods.
It's probably one of the best crowds that every single
other arena had all season long, because those fans want

(05:20):
to watch their team take on the defending champs and
try to take them down. The Celtics are used to this.
You thought they were gonna be shook by walking into MSG. Really,
this team they love this stuff. They love the hostility,

(05:41):
they love that energy coming their way. And by the way,
they love having a bunch of their fans in every
arena too. And yes, there were plenty of them inside
MSG this afternoon watching the Boston Celtics dominate Game three
and get back into this series. A couple of callouts

(06:02):
about this game. Peyton Pritchard unbelievable. He was the best
player on the court tonight, and that's what the Celtics
were used to. The way that he played today was
what they are used to seeing. Twenty three points off
the bench, electric shooting five of ten from distance, eight
of sixteen overall, added in a couple assists, a steal,

(06:25):
four rebounds. This is the Peyton Prichard we've all come
to know. This is the Peyton Pritchard who won sixth
Man of the Year this season. He was the best
player on the court tonight. He single handedly outscored New
York's entire bench. Twenty three points for Peyton Prichard, twenty

(06:49):
one points for New York's entire bench. And by the way,
New York finished the game over the final couple minutes
with all bench players after they waved the white flag.
So even with that, with all five players on the
court being reserves, Peyton Pritchard still outscored all of New

(07:10):
York's bench put together. Just an excellent performance from him
doing exactly what we've all come to expect, not necessarily
scoring twenty three points or leading the Celtics in scoring,
but just the way that he impacted the game. His
defense on Jalen Brunson, consistent every possession, even on switches

(07:31):
onto bigger players, held his ground, and then just drilling
shot after shot after shot, whether it be a three
pointer or a crafty shot in the mid range, or
somehow getting it off around the basket with big men
around him. This is what we've come to expect from

(07:52):
Peyton Pritchard. Let's talk about Christas porzingis a little bit
nineteen minutes played in this game, second straight game that
he came off the bench. In his playing time keeps
going up game by game in this series. I'm not
sure if everyone is necessarily paying attention to this right now,

(08:12):
but I want to talk about it. Thirteen minutes in
game one, fourteen minutes in game two, and then this
afternoon he comes off the bench and logs nineteen minutes.
So this to me is a really good sign for
the Celtics. He was on the injury report for games
one and two, questionable to play, played him both but

(08:35):
didn't play a lot for this game. He was off
the injury report and then comes out and plays nineteen minutes.
That's the most he's played since. When let's look back
at the game logs, he played about twenty to twenty
two minutes during games four and five against Orlando, So
it wasn't feeling great at that time either. But it

(08:57):
looks like he's starting to feel a little bit better
out on the court tonight today. Not exactly the most
impactful game that he's ever played, but all you need
right now is for him to give the Celtics quality
minutes off the bench, and that's exactly what he did
in nineteen minutes five points, four rebounds, two assists, three blocks.

(09:22):
He blocked three shots. New York's entire team block two,
so you get some protection around the rim. He got
to the line for six free throws, that was the
most on the team. So not only does he score
those points from the free throw line, but he also
moves up getting into the bonus while he's on the court.
I like that. It looks like Christos Porzingis is trending

(09:43):
in the right direction, and even while he's not one
hundred percent, and that's that's clear right now, looks like
He's gassed a little bit out there and just doesn't
have the same stamina that he usually brings to the table.
Doesn't feel great, you can see that, but it looks
like he's trending in the right direction, so great to
see that out of him today. Last thing I want

(10:04):
to point out, the Celtics have had a twenty point
lead in all three games and they still haven't gotten
a great game from Jason Tatum or Jaln Brown, and
Porzingis has barely scored. So think about that. You've been

(10:25):
up by at least twenty points in all three games
of this series, yet you still haven't gotten your customary
performance from Jason Tatum, your customary performance from the Eastern
Conference Finals, MVP in the NBA Finals, MVP from last
season Jalen Brown, and you still haven't gotten much scoring

(10:46):
from Christas Porzingis. And yet the Celtics have still held
a twenty point lead in all three games of this series.
So while they are still trailing two games to one,
all things considered, they gotta feel pretty good about where
they are are because you have to expect that at
some point Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown are gonna look

(11:07):
like themselves, and they did for brief stretches this afternoon,
you know, pretty solid games from them. Tatum finishes with
twenty two points, nine rebounds, seven assists, a couple of steals.
He was a plus twenty three. Jalen Brown nineteen points,
six rebounds, five assists, a steal. He was a plus
twenty nine. So solid games from those guys, but certainly

(11:29):
not the all NBA dominant force level that we've come
to see and expect out of those guys on a
night tonight basis. So Celtics are back in the series
two games to one. They've got a chance Monday to
tie this thing up and head back to Boston. But
they've got Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown still waiting to

(11:51):
emerge and look like them their true selves, and then
who knows, maybe Christas Porzingis finally breaks through some offensive rhythm.
All right, let's dive into some comments from the fans.
First up, we've got Trevor ocallaghan with a detailed coming.
I really enjoyed reading this comment when I saw it.
I'm gonna bring it into the podcast now. A detailed

(12:14):
comment on everyone freaking out after games one and two
and what Trevor was thinking as that was all going on.
Next up, we've got Tiki on what she saw early
in this game that made her feel confident. And then
last up we've got Fahi eighty four, who looks ahead
to a critical game four. All right, first up, Trevor,

(12:36):
what do you got? All right, folks, here's what Trevor's
got to say. The reaction that bordered on hysteria after
the first two games was mesmerizing. The Celtics could and
probably should be three up right now. Hey, it's the playoffs.
You have to earn every win, and tonight they buckled

(12:59):
down and put it in a superb performance. Need to
keep up the intensity, Trevor excellent commentary across the board.
I felt a little bit the same way. I mean,
I understood the hysteria after the first two games, because
those are games you absolutely should win. You go up

(13:20):
twenty points in the playoffs against a team that was
a lower seed that you swept during the regular season,
you should win those games. So I understand Celtics Nation
being a little bit upset about that. But at the
same time you would think that they also would realize
that the Celtics were on the brink of winning both

(13:43):
of those games, even despite losing the leads, all while
their top players weren't exactly playing up to their customary levels.
So yeah, the reaction bordered on hysteria. It was mesmerizing
from your perspective, Trevor, I understand it a little bit.
But I get what you're saying as well, that like,
all right, folks, let's take a deep breath. This team

(14:04):
just won a championship last season and is loaded with talent.
They're gonna bounce back. And that's exactly what they did today.
Talking about the fact that you have to earn every win,
and today they buckled down and put in a superb performance.
This was a great performance at both ends of the court.
The Celtics shoot forty eight percent from the field. They
hold New York to forty percent from the field. The

(14:27):
only players on New York's roster who really had anything
going I mean mcal Bridges again, I mean six for
ten from the field, but everyone else very low percentages.
When you're talking about the players who took more than
four or five shots in the game, Jalen Brunson twenty
seven points on twenty one shots. I think the Celtics
will live with that any day of the week. Karl

(14:51):
Anthony Towns. He did wind up scoring twenty one points,
but half of it was at the free throw line.
He did not shoot the ball well from the field.
So Celtics really played at a really high level defensively,
and they're doing it really without fouling all too much.
I mean today New York did take double, more than
double the amount of free throws. The Celtics were shooting

(15:12):
the ball well, they didn't really attack the basket. But
the Celtics will continue to try to do their best
to play great defense and force the Knicks into misses
without fouling. But they did another great defensive performance today. Offensively,
as we've already talked about, they finally found the rhythm
and looked like themselves in the key to this comment

(15:33):
from Trevor that we're talking about here is need to
keep up the intensity. You gotta keep this up. You've
got to go into game four feeling exactly the way
that you did going into Game three. The intensity level
was there from the very start. Al Horford after the
Celtics would score a basket, he's picking up full court.
He's his man Josh Hart was inbounding the ball typically

(15:55):
after the Celtics made a basket, Al Horford's staying down
there to kind of apply a little bit of pressure. Obviously,
it's not like game changing pressure that you're expecting a
turnover from the Knicks because of it, but it's just
it was a signal that the Celtics were bringing the
intensity and the energy to this game. So now you
got to maintain that. You got to bring that into
Game four that's coming up Monday. We'll talk about that

(16:17):
in the final comment here. But Trevor, I love the analysis.
I love the commentary here. Keep sending them in. We
appreciate it, and hopefully we'll see you again after Monday's game.
All right. Next up is Tiki and she says, I
could tell from first quarter we had it in the bag.
The team was connected, energy was high in offense, and

(16:40):
defense was on point. I love the Tiaki saying this
because you know, I could tell this is quote from
the post. I could tell from the first quarter we
had it in the bag. You might have been the
only one who was thinking that. You know, the Celtics
have been prone to losing big lead in this series.

(17:02):
Something tells me that a few Celtics fans, maybe most
of Celtics fans, were sitting on the edge of their
seats even when the Celtics were up by thirty during
the second half. But impressive from Tiki here saying that
she could tell from the first quarter on that the
Celtics had this one in the back. And the reasons
behind that comment as she says, the team was connected,
the energy was high, and the offense and defense was

(17:23):
on point. We just talked a little bit about that
energy that the players were bringing to the table. I
noticed the thing with al Horford with kind of staying
after the Celtics scored, picking up a little bit full courtious,
applying a little bit of extra pressure. But then I
could also see Jalen Brown was he brought a ton

(17:44):
of energy at the start of this game. Like he
just looked like, all right, I've got to assert myself
and we have to assert ourselves at the start of
this game to send a message. And that was across
the board. It felt like from my perspective watching the
Boston Celtics during this game, they did feel connected. It
felt like the ball was moving from the get go.

(18:05):
It felt like the defense was connected at the other
end of the court, just really playing the type of
team basketball that we've come to expect, and we should
expect it because we've seen it all season long from
this team. So Tiki, great observation. Let's hope that this
team stays as connected, as energetic, and as impactful with

(18:27):
offensive and defense as it was today. That's the recipe
for winning playoff games when you're playing against really good teams,
and by the way, the Knicks are a really good team.
You've got to bring all of this to the table.
And when you add that to the level of talent
that the Boston Celtics have, that is what makes them

(18:47):
almost impossible to beat four times out of seven. Okay,
here we go. Here's the last comment of the night.
This is coming in from Fahi eighty four, who says
they need to be ready for the Knicks punch in
Game four. I was thinking this exact thing when this

(19:07):
game ended, like, all right, you got one, You're back
in the series. But now you've got to expect New
York is gonna come with its a game on Monday.
And to be quite honest with you, I don't think
that the Knicks have brought their a game yet in
this series. I thought the Celtics today they were I

(19:29):
would give them probably a B B plus game. As
I said, Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown, chrisas Porzingis all were
not what we would typically expect from them in terms
of impact at both ends of the court. So I
don't think the Celtics have brought their a game, but
certainly the Knicks have not. The Knicks are a good

(19:50):
offensive team, a really good offensive team with a lot
of talent across the board, and they have not played
well on offense during this series. I expect that at
some point, and this may be Game four on Monday,
that they are going to swing and they are going
to land punches, and then it's a matter of do

(20:13):
the Celtics recover from those punches They did today? But
Monday is going to be a fight. New York knew
that it was on the brink of taking a commanding
three to zero series lead. Today I think it might
have gotten a little overhyped. It also has a chance

(20:35):
to take a commanding three to one series lead on Monday.
Did the Knicks learn a lesson from this game? Do
they come back Monday and played a much higher level.
I think that's going to be the case. Does that
mean New York's going to win? No, that's not what
I'm saying. But I think we should all expect and
as Fahi eighty four is saying here, we've got to

(20:58):
expect that the Knicks are going to come out and
throw big punches and land a bunch of them on
Monday night. So Monday is Game four. That game is
tipping off at seven thirty PM. It's gonna be on ESPN.
Make sure you tune into NBC Sports Boston for pregame
live and postgame live, but during the game it's on

(21:20):
ESPN and after please make sure to send in your
comments for the sound off postgame podcast. I appreciate you
giving us a listen tonight and I can't wait to
see you Monday night. Hopefully this is a two to
two series and hopefully the Celtics will be coming back
home to try to take a lead. Thanks again for listening.
I'll see you Monday