Jayson Tatum scored 39 points as the Boston Celtics moved into a commanding 3-0 lead in their NBA play-off first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets.
Tatum had his second 30-plus-point game of the series as they won 109-103.
The result puts second-seeded Celtics on the verge of sweeping the seventh-seeded Nets in the fourth game of the best-of-seven series on Monday.
Bruce Brown led the Nets with 26 points but Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were held to a combined 32 points.
“I think it just shows the growth of our team,” Tatum said. “Early in the season, we gave up big leads all the time. And we figured it out. You’re never going to be perfect, it’s all about how you respond. We kept responding.”
No NBA team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series.
In Toronto, forward Pascal Siakam scored a play-off career-high 34 points and Gary Trent Jr. added 24 in the Raptors’ 110-102 triumph over the Philadelphia 76ers to stay alive in their series, trimming the deficit to 3-1.
In Salt Lake City, Rudy Gobert’s slam dunk with 11 seconds remaining gave the Utah Jazz a 100-99 victory over the Dallas Mavericks that brought their Western Conference series level at two games apiece.
And Karl-Anthony Towns scored 33 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves levelled their series against the visiting Memphis Grizzlies with a 119-118 victory in the fourth game.
