Second verse, same as the first. The Boston Celtics won Game 1, lost Game 2, and then won two straight games on the road to take a 3-1 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night. It’s the same path the Celtics took in their first-round series against the Miami Heat.
Here are three things you might have missed.
1. Payton Pritchard’s James Harden impression
Nobody missed this, but it was way too good to leave out.
At the end of the third quarter, as the Celtics were trying to establish their lead, Payton Pritchard took matters into his own hands. With Dean Wade guarding him, Pritchard dribbled in, pulled the ball back, and hit a James Harden-esque step-back to put Boston up by 10.
2. Jayson Tatum hits Jaylen Brown
After a big-time Jaylen Brown three in the fourth quarter, Jayson Tatum hit his teammate with what was supposed to be a love tap.
Instead, he clocked him in the chest.
“Yeah, I’m gonna get Jayson back for that,” Brown said jokingly. “I wasn’t paying no attention, and he just comes out of nowhere with a left hook straight to the chest, I’m gonna get him back for that.”
Tatum evidently doesn’t know his own strength.
“I didn’t realize how hard I hit him,” Tatum said. “I’ve been lifting a lot lately. High-intensity game, I drove, they helped, he hit the big shot. I was hype.”
3. Walking the tightrope with the officials
Tatum and Max Strus both picked up technical fouls throughout the course of the game, but there could have been so many more. Everyone was upset with the officiating, especially when they took what felt like an hour to review the Brown-Strus incident. JB Bickerstaff constantly had his head in his hands on the sidelines.
It was more of the same in Game 3, too, but referee James Williams simply ate the complaining without dishing out any techs of his own.
Needless to say, neither of the two sides has been very pleased with the way the games have been called. But that’s just life in the NBA Playoffs, right?
