“Jayson Tatum got Kevin Durant reaching”: Celtics star crosses up Nets rival en route 40 points in 3 quarters of Celtics vs Nets Game 3

Jayson Tatum made Kevin Durant pay for a risky defensive play early in the 3rd quarter today. The Celtics and Nets are battling it out in Game 3.

The Celtics seem to have the Brooklyn Nets’ number judging from the first 3 quarters of Game 3. Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart seemed to be on a mission to prove their haters wrong today. Both have had stinkers in the first 2 games of the series.

Kyrie Irving, meanwhile, seemed to wilt in the face of the boisterous Boston crowd baying for his blood. Irving left Boston in a questionable manner, and many Shamrock Green fans have not forgiven him for that. Irving was 3-of-11 from the field at the time of writing.

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Tatum, on the other hand, had a whopping 40 points within the first 3 quarters. Supporting him with great offense was Marcus Smart, who had 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range.

Tatum seems to be on a mission to get Boston Game 3, and it was clear from his mindset from the beginning. Kevin Durant seemed to fall prey to his slick ball-handling at one point in the 3rd quarter today.

Jayson Tatum got Kevin Durant reaching in Q3 of Game 3

One of the moments of the game was how Tatum got Kevin Durant reaching and playing poor defense against him. He has the ball on a string with his left, and he can sense right when KD decides to throw caution to the wind. You can watch the clip for that action right here.

Tatum caught KD reaching 🤭 pic.twitter.com/KjFzPmtKTP

— ESPN (@espn) May 29, 2021

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Durant wasn’t too shabby himself on offense either. The Nets were in the game at the start of the 4th solely because of KD’s scoring. Durant had 29 points at the time of writing himself.

However, the scoreline stood at 96-84 in favor of the Celtics at the end of the period. Contrary to expectations, the Celtics are in prime position to take a game off Brooklyn. Avoiding the sweep will change the momentum of the series significantly.