Retro Games: 2002 NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 Celtics vs Nets-The Biggest 4th Quarter Comeback in NBA History!
Saturday May 25th, 2002 its Memorial Day weekend. I am 11 years old and, on my weekend agenda was playoff basketball and a holiday off from school. What more can you ask for? Like this is as good as it gets for a kid my age who is a fan of the game and likes days off from school. This is perfect. The Celtics are in the playoffs on the verge of making the NBA Finals. This would be the first time since 1986. So, everyone is excited in the hood and the city. Celtic Pride was in full effect currently. The Celtics who were in the dog days at the time missed the playoffs 6 years straight! SIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Still trying to wipe the stench from the Rick Pitino Era. Countless of bad moves and draft picks the Celtics randomly managed to build a team around Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker. Jim Obrien took over as head coach and stared the Celtics in the right direction. Despite our offense being middle of the road during that era of the NBA we played stout defense enough to be 5th in the league. Ironically in 2002 the Celtics led the league in 3-point attempts at 24 a game. The League average was 14 a game in 2002! The League average today is 34.1! It is crazy to think how far the game has evolved with spacing and shooting. Moving on though the Celtics managed to be the 3rd seed in the east with a 49–33 record. The Previous year they had missed the playoffs by 9 games with a 36–46 record. A 17-game improvement! How? Well Paul Pierce “The Truth” became one of the premiere wings in the game putting up 26 points a game with 7 boards 3 assist. Earning himself his first All Star Selection. Antoine Walker was already an All Star in 98 and making his return in 2002. 22 Points 8 boards and 5 assists on the season. Can you believe he shot 8 threes a game in 2002? Celtics fans know. Tommy Heishon knows. (RIP Tommy) Both their games mixed well together along with the stymie defense of the Celtics had us as a contender to make the finals. Leading the league in steals!
The Eastern Conference Finals were set, The Boston Celtics vs the New Jersey Nets. In the first round, The Celtics dispatched the Allen Iverson led 76ers in 5 games with one of Paul Pierce best games as a Celtic dropping 46 in a game eliminating clincher. Then passed the number two seeded Detroit Pistons in 5 games as well. The Nets downed the 8th seeded Indiana Pacers and 4th seeded Charlotte Hornets in 5 games. Games 1 & 2 were in New Jersey as both teams split. Celtics won one of the ugliest games in NBA history 93 to 86. Pierce and Walker went a combined 14 for 52!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (3 for 20 for Pierce and 11 for 32 for Walker) The team shot 34% on the road and somehow still managed to pull the game out down the stretch with late free throws from Pierce. Ok Eastern Conference Finals Jitters out the way gentleman. They won a game they were not supposed to on the road in a Hostile environment. I remember the Nets fans had a sign in the crowd saying, “please stab Paul Pierce”. It was wild times. The rugged era of the NBA showed by the shooting percentage and crowds in the stands. It was wild.
In game 3 at the Fleet Center those eastern conference jitters must have still been around. The game started as bad as it could be for the Celtics. The Nets came in running and gunning. All you can here were the groans from the living room with the family and the from the fans in the Fleet Center. All us dumbfounded by the events of the first quarter. The Nets came out running scoring with ease, Defending every shot. Meanwhile the Celtics “couldn’t shoot a grape in the Ocean” as my mom would always say when teams could not hit shots. Usually got a crack out of that but not today mom as the Celtics finished the quarter 3 for 21. At one-point shooting 7 % compared to the Nets 73%. Paul Pierce started out 0 for 5. So, combined with the game two performance of 3 for 20 and the start to the game 3 our best player was 3 for 25. Like I cannot think of another bad stretch, but LORD HAVE MERCY! Nets led 28 to Celtics 13.
Well more of the same continued leading into half time. Jason Kidd the best floor general in the NBA Kidd was controlling every aspect of the game. Managing the Nets offense and causing havoc on defense. Watching him was like watching a quarterback manage one of those Patriots 15 play 7-minute drives they used to go on in the early 2000s. Full control of the game. The only Celtic that looked like they knew it was a big game was Walker. We got it as close as 6 points. While everyone was lacking a spry in their step Walker tried to make something happen with his energy with an early run to start the quarter, but nothing was going our way. Paul Pierce hit his shot early in the quarter. Bad news he went 1 for 5 in the quarter. After a 13 to 4 run the Celtics would score 8 more points in the quarter. Lucious Harris (with the mask) proceeded to score 10 in the quarter and push the Celtic Deficit to 20 at the half.
Now what I learned early as a Celtic fan is you rode with your team. If they were getting their ass kicked you were going to watch lol. Despite my mom changing the channel every commercial break she would flip back due to me and my brother’s anticipation of seeing the game. It mattered. The game mattered. The Celtics were putrid for 6 years and somehow managed to get to the Eastern Conference finals. Two young All stars and a bunch of role guys no one expected us to be in this spot we got the ride this one out. Even if it rivaled the 1985 NBA Finals game 1 Memorial Day Massacre Where the Celtics defeated the Lakers 148 to 114. Sheesh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not know if I would have stayed around for that one, but I figured they would, so I was not going anywhere.
Well things did not get better as the afternoon continued. Through 3 quarters the sloppy play continued. I could not believe what I was seeing. 17 turnovers in 3 quarters. Shooting 30%. The Celtics looking defeated, The Nets looking full of energy. Shooting in the high 50s from the field. Mom started going “Well its over” as she proceeded to crochet the latest item she was working on and I could not argue. I thought it was over. The lead continued to go back and forth but we never got close. How we get down 19? Did the Celtics forget there was a game? How Paul Pierce cannot get going? How are we going to lose at home like this? What the *#!@? Basically, that is all we were thinking.
Luckily for us Antione Walker before the start of the 4th quarter dug into the team. (In the clip below of the game 59:57 you can see it there) Ripped them! Screaming at them! Pleading with them to show some pride, Play with some heat. Most especially he went at Paul Pierce. Told him to “Be aggressive! Stop looking for $#!@*&^ calls. Shoot that ^%@$!!!!!!!!!” Whatever he did he lit a spark under the Boston Celtics and mostly Paul Pierce. It was like a switch was finally turned on! Pierce and Walker attacked at the start of the quarter both finishing at the hoop. You could just feel the energy different! The Celtics started the quarter on a 9–0 run to bring the deficit to 10 with Pierce scoring 7 of those 9 points. It was like he is alive! Not settling for jumpers anymore just attacking the hoop making something happen. He did not shoot a jumper in the quarter. Our defense picked up contesting everything, making everything difficult.
I could not believe the change in momentum. It was like you could see the Nets tightening up. The pace of play was not there, the ease buckets was not there and for damn sure the defense was not there. Chip ins from role player Kenny Anderson and Rodney Rogers helped Walker and Pierce. But it was Pierce’s quarter. Getting to the hoop, getting to the line he was unstoppable Scoring 19 of his 28 in the 4th quarter. It did not matter who they put on him, Kerry Kittles, Richard Jefferson did not matter. You going to get these buckets scored on you and there isn't anything you can do about it. While for the quarter it was Nets who could not throw a gape in the Ocean going 4 for 22 with 8 free throws.
The Celtics battled back into the game, chipping away at the 19-point deficit. Cut it to 10, 8, 6 ,4 constantly attacking the Nets. Every bucket scored we cheered in the living room like we were at the Fleet Center with the fans in attendance that day. To just see the turn around the Celtic pride being on full display. The energy you could feel it off the tv! It was like the nets could not stop a nosebleed with a Bounty paper towel and yet fouled at will. The Celtics did not tie the game, take the lead until 46 seconds in the quarter on a pair of Paul Pierce free throws. WE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 91 to 90!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ensuing play Kerry Kittles turned over the ball and led to a Kenny Anderson layup at the rim. WE UP 93 to 90!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Walker blocked a Keith Van Horn 3-point attempt and Pierce put the game out of reach with a free throw. Despite the Nets with opportunities down the stretch they failed to score.
The Celtics did it! Being down as many as 26, 19 to start the 4th quarter they did it. They completed one of the biggest comebacks in NBA playoff history. We were hype! The Fleet Center was hype! The City was hype! Going up 2 to 1 in the eastern conference finals with another home game; we were close to going to another NBA Finals which would have been a first for me. It was exciting sitting there watching Pierce and Walker lead the Celtics to victory, and soon to their first NBA Finals………….
Well That did not happen. The Celtics dropped a heartbreaking game 4 where the Nets got hot from three-point range despite 30 points apiece from Pierce and Walker. Losing momentum for the rest of the series. Over the last three games Jason Kidd nearly dropped a triple on our heads averaging 17pts, 11rebs, and 9.7 assist closing out the Celtics in 6…………… It was like our last-ditch effort went into games 3 and 4 and could not find our footing for the last half of the series. Despite having two young All Stars, the most experienced player in the on-court Jason Kidd had control on the series.
Although the Pierce and Walker tandem would end 3 years after this it was good to see them fight through the odds and lead this team to the eastern conference finals at a young age despite never making the playoffs beforehand. Regardless of the outcome of the series did not diminish this as one of my favorite games all time. Especially as a young fan of the game.
This is my first piece under a series I am starting called Retro games. Below are links to the game, box scores and stats used in the piece. I look forward to continuing to share these stories and memories with you. Do not forget to comment below and leave a like if you enjoyed the post. Thank You for reading until next time.
