New York - You'll have a hard time finding many people who actually believe in the New York Knicks will take advantage of the Boston Celtics, obviously on the ropes and send out the knockout after two shocking comeback wins.

That's because the Celtics put themselves there and snare the Knicks in fake hopes, and returning to crazy Madison Square Garden will bring the absolute best of the home team.

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It's almost annoying at this point. The defending champion Celtics seem to have brought new challenges to themselves on the repetitive path, and competition alone is not enough.

They look for the next high stimulus seeker, seeing what skills they can do next.

"With our next feat, look at our quiet 20,000 loud and happy New Yorkers in one breath!"

It took about 20 minutes of real-time to see how serious the Celtics are back in the second round of the series to show how unobvious they have fallen into the friendly range of Boston Gardens.

The Celtics wouldn't foolishly give up their third 20-point deficit, so they didn't lose three straight consecutively, easily squeezing the Knicks with a 115-93 rout on Saturday afternoon.

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Although the Celtics re-established their dominance, reminding themselves of their identity in this series, they were still behind 2-1 and had to tie the series on Monday night. Otherwise, they will face knockouts and risk becoming the third consecutive winning streak in the second round.

But no one really believes that this is the case if the Celtics were concentrating midway through the game. They scored 20 3-pointers on Saturday and took the Knicks five, refusing to allow Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony towns to enter any kind of rhythm, while Payton Pritchard hit five from the bench and led the team with 23 points.

In other words, they played the typical May Celtics game on the road, which kept Knicks fans quiet and frustrated.

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"It's the playoffs. Essentially, it's going to be a different narrative," Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said. "I've been recording that I've talked a lot about it, not riding an emotional roller coaster after a win or a loss. We've been through a lot of games, together with a lot of series.

"Home is important. It's great in front of our fans - we value their support. But, at the same time, if you want to be special, if you want to be great, you have to win some games on the way. But more importantly, it's about the response."

This latest narrative is about the Celtics unable to maintain their lead when the Knicks took them down in the first two quarters, when Boston's offense became too anemia and too three points to imagine.

The game hits 20%, 15% of the 3-point range, and the fourth quarter output in Games 1 and 2 tends to bring solid criticism.

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The Celtics won't change their identity overnight.

They still hit a 40 3 in Game 3, but still have a guilty of Knicks substitute Mitchell Robinson deliberately sending him into the game, which could take him to the edge as each turnover (4 out of 12) stabbed him and the crowd anxiety.

They played such a connected defense that there would be no return in the fourth quarter - third quarter or second quarter. They maintained a 25-point halftime lead and did not allow the Knicks to live a lot.

Maybe it's because Coach Joe Mazzulla has been to one of those weird places in the past few days.

"You have to kick into the darkness," Mazula said bluntly. “You have to do that.

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"We tested it in front of us, a bunch of people I don't want other people going through. It's an interesting part."

The Celtics had only eight turnovers, at least from this perspective, the only thing they would lose the series, maybe in the playoffs, they beat themselves.

"You have to beat us four times, and that's what it boils down to," Celtics guard Jaylen Brown said. "Not twice, not once, not three times, you have to win four games. So play a lot of basketball."

Brown didn’t have the best shot night, but he hit 18 but he hit the rim, not for the controversial 3-pointer and ended the game with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

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Tatum had a rare and wonderful night in three-point range, reaching 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in nine points, but he struggled again as the Knicks put the bigger town and Robinson on him.

In theory, he should have hit them and forced a more traditional showdown, but he hasn't taken advantage of it yet. By his standards, he should probably have more expectations of his own expectations - even if it's not close to him here.

After entering the game, Tatum played 45 playoff games with Mazzulla as head coach, with an average of eight of the 20 attempts per night from three-pointers.

In that time frame, he got the most 3 times (355), with only LeBron James (30%) having lower accuracy and Tatum’s distance of 30.7%.

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At least so far, at least in Tatum's case, this rash strategy doesn't seem to be suitable for him. And he was criticized for it - even more so, when his drama didn't meet expectations.

"You understand...because of the thing about being 'that guy'," Tatum said. "I got a lot of praise, I got a lot of praise, I got a lot of praise. But, I know, I'm not perfect. Sometimes, I know, I need to play better. I need to do more. That's what "that guy" brings.

"People not only criticize me. There are a lot of people in front of me who come and criticize me and a lot of people who will criticize me."

Tatum's heat kept him from more than he could control. It's a champion who wants to be the face of the NBA, he should be in this playoffs and put personal stamps on the business expectation.

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And, like the Celtics people, they are experiencing their own marks and injuries this year. Kristaps Porziņģis can't get out of the way in what has bothered him, and Jrue Holiday has been battling a hamstring injury.

Tatum will need more. This game is not enough.

"For me, it's just a sense of joy I've played, right? You know, getting caught in an angry face, getting angry at the world. That's not who I am." "That's not when I play the best. So I always say, when things go well and things aren't going well, you have to be the same person. You can't switch."

It's obvious that the Celtics won't do too much switching, nor do they generate too much oxygen to even effectively criticize. In the long run, they should be enough to beat the Knicks, and they hope this is enough to satisfy the undeniable situation.