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Saturday's NBA playoffs scores, takeaways

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By Joe Vardon, Josh Robbins, John Hollinger, William Guillory, Manny Navarro and Jay King

The Boston Celtics took down the Miami Heat with ease Saturday, claiming a 2-1 series lead behind a 104-84 runaway victory as they prepare for Game 4 in Miami on Monday night.

The Celtics outscored the Heat each quarter but the fourth, but the game was well out of hand. It was a season-low in points scored for Miami and a season-low in points allowed for Boston.

Boston's stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 22 points each, with only one player for Miami, Bam Adebayo, scoring 20 points.

Celtics 104, Heat 84

Series: Celtics lead 2-1

Game 5: Monday in Miami (TNT)

Miami needs to make adjustments

It's time for coach Erik Spoelstra to make more adjustments or sprinkle more pixie dust on his shooters' hands.

After a franchise playoff record 23-of-43 shooting from behind the arc in an impressive Game 2 win in Boston, the Heat went back to looking ordinary on the offensive end in a blowout home loss to the top-seeded Celtics. Miami shot 9 of 28 from 3 — with the drop in attempts a tip of the cap to the defensive adjustments Joe Mazzulla made.

Tyler Herro, who dished out a career-high 14 assists in Wednesday's win, had two assists and four turnovers on Saturday as the Celtics made better reads on pick and rolls, put more pressure on the ball and forced Herro to take more shots in the paint. Herro finished 5 of 16 from the field with seven shots from 2-point range. He took two shots from inside the arc in Game 2.

Does Spoelstra have a counterpunch to Boston's adjustments? Maybe it's sprinkling in 35-year-old Patty Mills more. Mills hit two 3s in the fourth quarter off the bench in his first action in the series.

Whatever Spoelstra does to keep the Heat competitive in this series, it's still likely going to require Tinkerbell lending him a hand. Miami shot 37 percent from 3 in the regular season (12th) and made 12.5 3s a game in the regular season. That was with Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson healthy. None of them are right now. — Manny Navarro

GO DEEPER

Do the Heat have counterpunch after deflating Game 3 loss to Celtics?

Boston's defense stifles Miami

After the Heat caught them by surprise by launching 43 3-point attempts in Game 2, the Celtics changed their defensive approach in Game 3. They committed to pressure all over the court. They increased the intensity and limited Miami to just 28 3-point attempts, including 14 during the first half. Even when the Heat did shoot long balls, the Celtics did a much better job contesting them than they did in the previous matchup.

The Celtics didn't need to concede open looks outside to do a solid job in other areas of defense. They were able to take away everything, more or less. The Heat scored just 12 points during the first quarter. They needed a strong fourth quarter of garbage time just to finish with 41.6 percent shooting from the field, including 32.1 percent on 3-point attempts.

Sustaining the defensive aggression should be the Celtics' focus over the rest of the series. Miami will be smart enough and tough enough to take away Boston's offensive comfort for stretches of every game, but, as depleted as the Heat are, they shouldn't be able to score enough to keep pace. After allowing Miami to step into clean looks throughout Game 2, the Celtics took it into their own hands to produce a sloppier Heat outing.

Without the injured Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, Miami had no answers for Boston's tight defense. Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro needed 34 combined shot attempts to score 35 combined points and the role players, who were so key in the previous game, were also unable to get going. — Jay King, Celtics beat writer

GO DEEPER

Celtics win 'rock fight' with Heat by turning focus to defense in Game 3

Lakers 119, Nuggets 108

Series: Denver leads 3-1

Game 5: Monday in Denver

The Nuggets bleed

The Nuggets have often appeared infallible against the Lakers over their 11-game win streak. They made the second-half comebacks and all of the big crunchtime plays. No deficit had been too large to overcome. No moment was too big for them. Until Saturday.

If this were a boxing match, Game 4 was the first time the Lakers made the Nuggets bleed. Los Angeles destroyed Denver's flawless veil, making all of the pivotal plays as the Nuggets' critical shots fell short. Against Denver, the mental game has been just as crucial as anything. The Lakers have finally cleared that hurdle.

None of this matters if the Lakers don't win Games 5, 6 and 7. A five-game series loss is better than a sweep, but it's still a first-round exit for a group that considers itself a championship contender in spite of finishing No. 7 in the West.

But the Lakers have now shown that Denver is beatable while simultaneously eradicating the psychological demons that haunted them in this series. And given how Game 2 played out, and that they also held double-digit leads in Games 1 and 3, the Lakers can't help but feel optimistic about their chances to continue to extend this series. — Jovan Buha, Lakers beat writer

GO DEEPER

Lakers finally finish the job to end infamous losing streak against Nuggets

Another slow start for Denver

For much of their first-round matchup against the Lakers, a big talking point for the Nuggets has been how to get off to good starts. Nuggets coach Michael Malone said as much ahead of Game 3. He said so again ahead of Saturday night's Game 4.

And yet, Denver once again didn't play well in the first quarter. Once again, the Nuggets went into halftime trailing, the fourth consecutive time they've done so. They've also been behind by double figures in every game of this series, but still lead, 3-1, heading into Monday's possible closeout game back at home.

Denver is going to win this series, barring something that the NBA has never seen. The Lakers aren't going to rebound completely from a 3-0 deficit. But the Nuggets have to clean things up. This hasn't been a vintage Denver performance.

Saturday night was about the Lakers for sure. James and Davis were once again dominant, and this time they got help from their teammates.

What Denver knows is that the competition only gets better from here. Eventually, they will have to win a first half, or two. — Tony Jones, NBA staff writer

GO DEEPER

'We know that we have to be better': Nuggets' flaws finally cost them against Lakers

Thunder 106, Pelicans 85

Series: Thunder lead 3-0

Game 5: Monday in New Orleans

Could Oklahoma City be winning too easily?

Is sweeping this series a problem? That's about the biggest thing you could come up with as a "worry" for Oklahoma City after Saturday's 106-85 rout in Game 3: whether wrapping up a sweep Monday will leave the Thunder too rusty for the second round.

They would potentially have a week off before their next game against either the Dallas Mavericks or the LA Clippers if they win Monday after already having had a week off between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. Are four games in 21 days enough to keep them fresh before potentially facing off against Luka Dončić in a best-of-seven series?

First-world problems for sure, but of the things for the Thunder to worry about, none would seem to involve the Pelicans. New Orleans again struggled to muster one point per possession against the Thunder's stout defense. The one brief moment of concern in this game — Jalen Williams exiting after being hit in the face on a drive on the Thunder's first offensive play — quickly evaporated when he returned and scored three straight baskets to begin the second quarter.

If you really want to come up with things to worry about, you can point out the 3-point shooting disparity may eventually even out, or that Gordon Hayward went scoreless again and hasn't scored yet in 27 minutes this series while mostly being a passive observer of the proceedings. But that's grasping at straws.

In the meantime, Oklahoma City can enjoy a nice meal in the French Quarter between games, and perhaps a celebratory daiquiri or two after Sunday night's Coach of the Year announcement, where the Thunder's Mark Daigneault is a favorite to win the award. The fourth and likely final game of the series will be back here Monday night. — John Hollinger, senior NBA writer

No excuses for that level of ineptitude from New Orleans

In Game 2, the Pelicans suffered their biggest blowout in a playoff game since 2009. In Game 3, the Pelicans had their lowest-scoring playoff game since 2011. In all three games, the Pelicans have failed to score more than 92 points. Being without Zion Williamson certainly hurts, but there's no excuse for New Orleans to be as bad as it has been on offense in this series. Brandon Ingram finished with 19 points in Game 3. He's failed to reach 20 points in any of the games this series.

The Pels also had a combined 39 turnovers in Games 2 and 3. Willie Green tried to open up the floor a bit by sitting Jonas Valančiūnas the entire second half in Game 3. Didn't work. At the end of the day, if Ingram and CJ McCollum (16 points on 7-of-22 shooting in Game 3) are going to be this bad, the Pelicans don't have much hope to beat anybody, let alone the No. 1 seed in the West. — Will Guillory, Pelicans beat writer

GO DEEPER

On the verge of being swept, Pelicans lose their swagger against Thunder

Magic 112, Cavaliers 89

Series: Tied 2-2

Game 5: Tuesday in Cleveland (TNT)

How Jalen Suggs set the tone for Orlando

You can cite all the X's and O's you want, but sometimes these things aren't all that complicated. The Magic go as far as Jalen Suggs takes them.

He's their heart and their soul. When Suggs has wreaked havoc on defense and played freely (and relatively mistake-free) on offense, the Magic have bedeviled the Cavs in this series. (And when he's struggled on the offensive end, as he did in Games 1 and 2 and the first half of Game 3, the Magic have struggled, too.)

One of the not-so-subtle adjustments that Magic coach Jamahl Mosley made between Game 2 and Game 3 was assigning Suggs to guard Donovan Mitchell more often instead of predominantly placing Gary Harris on him. Mitchell has had his spurts — particularly in Saturday's first half — but when Suggs is making things difficult, Orlando's entire tone changes.

It's no coincidence that Suggs sank his two 3-pointers in Saturday's game-changing third quarter and got into a face-to-face jawing match with Darius Garland. Those were huge momentum sequences in a quarter filled with them for the Magic. Suggs finished with 12 points, two rebounds, three assists and seven turnovers, but those stats don't mesh with his real impact in the third quarter.

Game 4 showed Orlando can win even if Paolo Banchero plays badly. Orlando cannot withstand both Banchero and Suggs playing badly.

As these teams head into a pivotal Game 5 in Cleveland on Tuesday, Suggs will be the series' barometer more than anyone else. — Josh Robbins, NBA senior writer

GO DEEPER

Poise matters: How the Magic unleashed a third-quarter onslaught on the Cavaliers

Disastrous second half sinks Cavaliers

Teams that win the first two games of a playoff series advance to the next round 91 percent of the time. Is this what the other nine percent looks like?

If there are words that would do justice to the low levels the Cavs sunk to in two games in Orlando this week, my college education didn't get to them. Stink, stank and stunk work for now.

This first-round series with the Magic is now tied after the Magic took Game 4 at home by 23 points, for a two-game margin of victory of 61 points. Orlando's 38-pointer in Game 3 Thursday stands as the most lopsided loss in playoff history for the Cavs, a dubious record that would have been in serious jeopardy Saturday had Cleveland not taken a nine-point lead into the locker room. The Cavs still haven't shot the ball well this series. Going 4 of 17 from 3-point range on Saturday doesn't cut it.

I have been covering the NBA for 10 consecutive years now. For the first four and a half, I exclusively followed the Cavs and will follow them in these playoffs until they bow out. I can say the third quarter in Game 4 was the worst quarter I've seen from a good Cavs team, ever. More turnovers (six) than field goals (four). Gave up 37. Managed just 10, coughing up a lung and any remaining pride after Thursday's beatdown.

Before coach J.B. Bickerstaff went with the punt team lineup with about five minutes to go, the Magic's bench outscored the Cavs' reserves, 36-4. Not a misprint. The starters weren't all that sweet, either, especially after halftime. Mitchell, for instance, failed to score in the second half after 18 first-half points.

Taking a step back from the wreckage, no team has won a road game yet in this series, and no road team has played even close to well in any game. The Magic will have to show their myriad adjustments — first and foremost swapping out Jonathan Isaac for Wendell Carter Jr. — have truly unlocked something the Cavs can't handle, that what happened here at the Kia Center wasn't just a case of home comfort.

If Orlando does just that on Tuesday, then this is what the other nine percent looks like. — Joe Vardon, NBA senior writer

GO DEEPER

Vardon: Donovan Mitchell's future will face new question if Cavs' collapse continues

Sunday's schedule

Required reading

(Photo of Jalen Suggs: Fernando Medina / NBAE via Getty Images)

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