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With seven minutes left in the third quarter of Game 3, the Boston Celtics held a 10-point lead and looked poised to get on the board in their second-round playoff series against the Miami Heat. Just 10 seconds later, it looked like Boston’s season could be over.

When the final buzzer sounded an hour after that, though, the defending Eastern Conference champions were looking very much alive.

Things change quickly in the NBA Playoffs.

The Celtics scored a 97-81 victory over the Heat before a capacity crowd at the TD Garden on Saturday night. The win cuts Miami’s series lead in half and changes momentum in the Eastern Conference Semifinals after the Heat took the series’ first two games in South Beach.

After managing just 22 points on 38 percent shooting at the American Airlines Arena in Games 1 and 2, Kevin Garnett turned in a masterful performance on the home parquet. Garnett repeatedly dominated Miami’s frontline in the low post, scoring 28 points on 13-for-20 shooting and hauling in 18 rebounds, his most since Dec. 7, 2008, in nearly 38 minutes of play.

“I felt like I’ve been nonexistent pretty much offensively in this series,” Garnett said in a postgame press conference. “Tonight was a little more focused on offense versus defense … They weren’t bringing a double-team, so I just took my opportunities and I was aggressive.”

Paul Pierce teamed with Garnett to dominate the affair, shaking off his Game 1 ejection and Game 2 Achilles injury to*come out firing with 12 first-quarter points that set the tone for Boston. The Celtics captain*finished with 27 points (9-for-20, 5-for-7 from 3-point range), five rebounds and five assists in the win.

Despite their phenomenal evenings, the future Hall-of-Famers were overshadowed by the late-game performance of Boston point guard Rajon Rondo — or, more to the point, that he performed at all.

With the Celtics leading 60-50 and 7:02 on the clock in the third quarter, Rondo —*the orchestrator of the Celtics’ half-court offense and one of the only clear matchup advantages that Doc Rivers possesses against Erik Spoelstra’s athletically gifted squad —*got tied up with Heat star Dwyane Wade. As the two tumbled to the court, Rondo extended his left arm to brace himself. The fall was awkward; the way his elbow bent was worse.

“I knew something was wrong,” Rondo said in his postgame press conference. “Thank God for Kevin —*I was having trouble breathing, and Kevin just kept telling me to breathe.”

Rondo immediately grabbed the arm, and Garnett and his other teammates crowded around him and the Celtics medical staff swooped in. It looked bad. It looked broken.

“I still haven’t seen it — I’ve heard I don’t want to see it,” Rivers said in his postgame press conference. “I’ve never seen the [Joe] Theismann injury, and I don’t plan on seeing this one.”

(If, like Doc, you didn’t see it…

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By Dan Devine – Ball Don’t Lie

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