Celtics’ Core 4 Building Momentum After Big Win

After rumors of potential locker room descension following the close loss in Game 2, the core leaders of this young Boston Celtics team stepped up big in Game 3. The foursome of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart combined for 92 points to notch their first win of the series, 117-106. With Gordon Hayward returning from injury and the Celtics’ young stars beginning to fire on all cylinders, Boston looks primed for a comeback against the Miami Heat after two tough losses to start the series.

In his first Eastern Conference playoff push, All-Star guard Kemba Walker has been struggling this postseason with his perimeter shooting. In 8 of the 14 playoff games played Walker has made three or less three-pointers with at least six attempts in the game highlighted by his rough 1 of 9 three-point shooting night in Game 1 of this series. He also has had five 1 of 6 three-point shooting nights and he opened up the 2020 NBA Playoffs going 0 of 4 from beyond the arc.

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Thankfully in these last two games, Cardiac Kemba has started to catch fire from three with two back-to-back games with four made threes on the night. In Game 3, Walker posted a stat line of 21 points, six rebounds and two assists to completely outplay the Heat’s Goran Dragic who had a quiet night with only 11 points on the night.

As his running mate in the backcourt, Marcus Smart had a rough shooting night (5 of 10) but still managed to thrive in this game by living at the free throw line. Smart had a game-high ten free throw attempts and hit all of them in route to 20 points, four rebounds and six assists. Boston will need this kind of production throughout the rest of this series if they want any chance of getting back in this series considering they have to not only outplay Dragic and Tyler Herro, but Jimmy Butler and Duncan Robinson as well.

Outside of Walker and Smart, Brad Wanamaker is the only other guard who has really seen time so far this postseason which means that productivity of this backcourt when on the floor is crucial when it comes to combating Miami’s diverse guard rotations.

On the other end of this big win are the two star wings, Tatum and Brown who combined for 51 points and both impacted the game in their own way. Tatum shouldered a significant load of the offensive responsibility, flirting with a triple double as he had 25 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists on the night.

Shooting a game-high 20 field goal attempts it is apparent that Tatum looked to be more aggressive after taking only 12 shots in Game 3 (the lowest out of Core 4). As the lead scoring option on this team, Tatum’s activity as both a scorer and facilitator is the engine that keeps this team going. Expect him to build off of his Game 3 performance moving forward as his involvement in the offense will only increase over the next couple of games.

In regards to Brown, he may have had his best overall game so far this postseason. Alongside a team-high 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Brown also chipped in a block and three steals on the night to anchor down a Celtics’ defense that kept the Heat relatively quiet for most of the game (Heat shot only 38.8% from the floor and 27.3% from beyond the arc).

The resilience of this young squad will come on the back of these two franchise cornerstones. If they can get similar production from these two over the course of 40+ minutes in Game 4, the Celtics will easily leave Wednesday night with the series tied 2-2.

Last but not least is the X-Factor in this series, Gordon Hayward, who may not have flashed on the scoreboard, but his presence was definitely felt in his Game 3 return. Coming off of a Grade 3 ankle sprain suffered in Game 1 of the opening round against the Philadelphia 76ers, Hayward played 31 minutes and was relatively effective with six points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Although the counting stats look below average, Hayward’s presence on the floor significantly opens up the floor and creates driving lanes for an athletic Celtics team that loves to finish at the rim. This can be seen through Boston’s dominance in points in the paint against the Heat in Game 3 where they outscored Miami 56 to 36 in the paint.

By adding another shot creator and three-point threat in Hayward, Miami can no longer pack the paint which allows guys like Tatum, Brown, Walker and even Smart to aggressively drive to the basket against one on one coverage. The analytics are not the only ones who think Hayward’s presence on the floor makes Boston an even more effective and dynamic team. Following the Game 3 victory, Tatum had this to tell the media,

“We played a while without him (Hayward) and I’ve said it before, it’s crazy for anybody to think that we are better without him,” Tatum said. “We’re so much better when he’s out there. He’s so much more dynamic, so much more versatile when he’s out there. It felt great to have our full team back and he played great in his first game. He’s going to continue to get better, get his feeling back. So, to have him back is everything.”

Boston is healthy, hungry, battle tested and now they have gained some momentum which spells big trouble for the Miami Heat moving forward in this series. Combined with the Core 4 playing up to their potential, if Hayward’s return is truly everything as Tatum said then things are about to get interesting in these Eastern Conference Finals as the Celtics look to rally and make a run to the 2020 NBA Finals.