Jalen Brunson has found his shot in the fourth quarter of each game of this Eastern Conference semifinal series.
But he has struggled in the first three periods. That continued in the Celtics’ 115-93 Game 3 rout of the Knicks that sliced their series lead in half.
Brunson finished with a team-high 27 points, but eight of those came over the final 12 minutes after the result was well in hand.
In Game 2, he scored nine points in the final 4:39, including the game-winning free throws with 12.7 seconds to go. He also had 11 points in the fourth quarter of the opener.
In the first three quarters across all three games, Brunson is shooting 36.5 percent from the field.
Overall in the series, he is slightly better at 38.1 percent, down from his 43.6 percent mark against the Pistons in the opening round. But that’s not going to hurt his confidence.
“Continue to shoot my shot, do the things I work on, continue to stay confident, that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “Just trust what I do. That’s basically it right there.”
Rebounding has been a postseason-long issue for the Knicks.
They have lost the battle on the boards in six of nine games.
While they did outrebound the Celtics by one Saturday, Boston still had 12 offensive rebounds that turned into 18 second-chance points, 14 of those coming in the lopsided first half.
Celtics reserve forward Sam Hauser (sprained right ankle) remained out. He also missed Game 2.
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Al Horford started for Boston in place of Kristaps Porzingis for a second straight game and was terrific.
The 38-year-old forward enjoyed his best performance of the series, producing 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in 35 strong minutes.
The Celtics improved to 3-1 on the road in the playoffs after going an NBA-best 33-8 during the regular season away from home.
