Mazzulla: 72 hours before Game 3 were 'dark, but in a good way'

The Boston Celtics may have been down 2-0 against the New York Knicks heading into Madison Square Garden, but head coach Joe Mazzulla saw nothing but silver linings in those dark clouds.

"There's no one way of how it's supposed to go, you get caught up on your expectations automatically," Mazzulla said, according to Celtics reporter Noa Dalzell. "So if there's no expectations, then we're on the path of trying to go after greatness, and you don't get to dictate the test that it's in front of you, all you can dictate is how you approach it and respond to it."

The Celtics responded with a 115-93 win on the Knicks' home floor Saturday, controlling the game from start to finish.

"We plan on doing this for a long time, and, trust me, it could be a lot worse than those last 72 hours, and that's the perspective we got to have," Mazzulla said.

He added: "This is the fun part, you don't get into the journey for it to be easy. So it's been dark, but in a good way. ...You just gotta tap into your darkness."

Boston went 20-of-40 from beyond the arc after beginning the series 25-of-100. However, Mazzulla believes the Celtics' Game 3 performance went beyond just making shots.

"That's the easy thing to look at, but we won the end of quarters, and then we didn't have 11 live ball turnovers," Mazzulla said.

He added: "You have to end quarters well, you have to start quarters well. You have to value the basketball, you have to win the margins ... That's all we talked about in the last 72 hours."

Both Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard splashed in five triples each Saturday. Pritchard also led the Celtics in scoring with 23 points off the bench.

"You wouldn't want to be in any other position as a competitor," Pritchard said, per Dalzell. "This is the best moment you can be in, down 2-0, backs against the wall. You just bring it, and I think we were all prepared for it."

Knicks star Jalen Brunson believes his team was too comfortable entering Saturday.

"I don't think we came with the mindset of being satisfied, but I think it was just subconsciously satisfied being up 2-0," Brunson said, according to SNY Knicks. "Just not the way we need to approach the game."

The Knicks remain ahead in the series 2-1. Game 4 is on Monday.