It didn’t take long for the Boston Celtics to find their shooting stroke.
On their third possession of Game 3 against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Jayson Tatum found an open Al Horford for the Celtics’ first 3-pointer.
Three possessions later, Jaylen Brown drilled another.
Less than five minutes into the first quarter, Tatum made a 3-pointer of his own.
And there was plenty more to come.
The 3-point struggles that doomed the defending champion Celtics in their blown-lead losses in Games 1 and 2 vanished in an instant on Saturday afternoon as they blew out the Knicks, 115-93.
Just like that, the Knicks’ lead in the best-of-seven series is down to 2-1.
Boston finished 20-of-40 (50%) on 3-point attempts after shooting a combined 25-of-100 (25%) in the first two games of the second-round playoff series.
It added insult on an afternoon in which Karl-Anthony Towns appeared to injure his left hand but played through it.
The Celtics made their first four 3-point attempts and went 6-of-7 from deep in the opening quarter, helping them jump out to a 36-20 lead.
Boston’s barrage continued during a similarly torrid second quarter, and they went into halftime up 71-46 after shooting 12-of-19 (63.2%) from 3-point range before the break.
Payton Pritchard led the Celtics with 23 points. Tatum — who averaged 18.0 points on just 28.6% shooting in the first two games of the series — scored 22 on 8-of-20 shooting, including 5-of-9 on 3-pointers.
The Knicks, meanwhile, shot just 2-of-17 on 3-point attempts through the first three quarters.
Boston led by as many as 31 points in the third quarter, and the Knicks never cut their second-half deficit to fewer than 20 points.
It was a far cry from Games 1 and 2 in Boston, where the Knicks erased 20-point second-half deficits both nights en route to a pair of instant-classic victories.
Boston shot a combined 4-of-26 on 3-point attempts in the fourth quarters of those losses.
In Game 1, the Celtics finished 15-of-60 on 3-pointers, with the 45 misses setting a record for the most in a playoff game in NBA history.
But 32 of those misses came on uncontested attempts, according to ESPN Analytics, and after both losses, Boston players stressed that good looks weren’t falling.
On Saturday, the Celtics looked much more like the team that led the NBA in 3-point makes (17.8) and attempts (48.2) per game in the regular season.
The Knicks were down 47-27 with 7:31 left in the second quarter when Towns grimaced and clutched his non-shooting left hand after he made a floater through contact from Jrue Holiday.
Towns did not leave the game, however, and finished with 21 points on 5-of-18 shooting and 15 rebounds in 36 minutes.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 27 points on 9-of-21 shooting.
But it was otherwise a grind for the Knicks offensively.
OG Anunoby did not score until the 7:21 mark of the third quarter and finished with two points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Mitchell Robinson missed his first five free-throw attempts and finished 4-of-12 from the line.
Josh Hart, who briefly disappeared into the tunnel after a hard fall in the first quarter before returning to the court to start the second, shot 3-of-9 from the field for 10 points.
The Knicks never led in the game.
The lopsided loss took the air out of a sellout crowd that included A-listers such as Bad Bunny, Timothee Chalamet and Alec Baldwin, along with slews of attendees who paid more than $600 on the resale market just to get in.
Teams that won Games 1 and 2 on the road in a best-of-seven series have gone on to advance to the next round 85.7% of the time.
The Knicks seek to make the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.
They’ll look to bounce back on Monday night in Game 4 at the Garden.
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