Nets Buckle Under to Celtics

Paul Pierce was a comet, leaving a trail of flailing defenders. Kenny Anderson was an untouchable tornado. Antoine Walker was a battering ram, imposing his will on the court, pummeling his teammates on the bench with words.

The Boston Celtics completed the greatest fourth-quarter comeback in NBA playoff history Saturday at the FleetCenter and beat the New Jersey Nets, 94-90, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Celtics, who have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series that continues here Monday, trailed the Nets, 28-13, at the end of the first quarter, 54-34, at the end of the first half, 74-53, at the end of the third quarter.

What followed was a blur of inspiring desperation.

In the fourth quarter, Boston outscored New Jersey, 41-16, and those bloodless numbers do no justice to the wild-eyed Celtics or the quivering Nets.

“To be honest,” Walker said, “I’ve never been a part of something like this in my life.”

Said Pierce: “It’s hard for me to describe what I’ve just witnessed. It’s the greatest comeback I’ve ever been a part of.”

The Celtics led, 1-0, and didn’t lead again until Pierce made two free throws with 46 seconds left to put Boston ahead, 91-90. New Jersey’s Kerry Kittles slapped an Anderson layup too late and got a goaltending call with 29.8 seconds left to put Boston ahead, 93-90, and Pierce made one more three throw with 17.6 seconds left to end the scoring.

Net guard Jason Kidd missed four three-point shots in those last 17.6 seconds, but the New Jersey unraveling had finished before that. Maybe when the ball slipped out of Keith Van Horn’s hands so that he double-clutched on a three-point shot with about 20 seconds left, enabling Walker to block it.

Or maybe the collapse had been completed when Boston’s Rodney Rogers planted his feet in the lane, bent his knees, crossed his arms and stood stoically when New Jersey’s Lucious Harris thought he had an easy layup. All Harris got was a charging foul with 1:16 left and the Net lead stayed at 90-87.

Perhaps the Nets’ fate was sealed when they scored their last field goal with 4:08 left, a 19-foot shot by Kittles that had given them an 88-78 lead.

Who even knows when a team totally loses its hold on a 26-point lead, which was how far the Nets were ahead with 8:31 left in the third quarter after a Van Horn jump shot put New Jersey ahead, 65-39.

“All I wanted at that point,” Walker said, “was for us to not quit and show we were a better team than that going into Monday’s game. I can’t repeat what I said to my team, but I just told them whether we win or not, we have to show New Jersey we were a better basketball team than that.”

Walker talked even tougher at the end of the third quarter. He challenged Pierce to quit settling for jump shots. Pierce, who had made three of 20 from the field in Game 2, made two of 14 in the first three quarters.

Then the Celtics scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter. Pierce, who scored 19 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, had three high-flying, atmosphere-piercing layups and a free throw; Walker had another layup; and Anderson a jump shot. In 2:47 the Celtics had sliced a 74-53 deficit into something they could handle.

And yet it was a good thing no one had told them that until Saturday, no team had come from further back in the fourth quarter than the Phoenix Suns’ run from 18 down--100-82--while defeating the Houston Rockets, 124-117, in 1994. And the Suns had to go to overtime to win. In the history of the playoffs, teams that have led by 19 or more points at the end of the third quarter are 171-1.

When the final buzzer sounded, Pierce threw himself on the court and pounded his fists on the parquet. Walker jumped onto the scorer’s table and lifted his arms high. The other Celtics had gathered in a massive hug in the center of the court while Coach Jim O’Brien ran around dazedly pumping his fists.

“The first three quarters were close to hell,” O’Brien said, “but that last quarter was Eden. Damn, that was great. I can’t even begin to describe what has happened.”

Said New Jersey Coach Byron Scott: “We had the game and we blew it. We quit running our offense.”

The Nets were four of 22 from the field in the fourth quarter and committed six turnovers.

“It’s just one game,” Kidd said. One game maybe, but one big collapse.