BOSTON -- History is written by the winners.

	“	We thought we won the game. We got careless. ”
		— Nets guard Kerry Kittles

So Boston Celtics fans will tell you that the Celtics' Game 3 94-90 victory is one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history. But if you're not wearing green, the truth is that Game 3 was the worst postseason collapses ever.

"We blew it," said a dejected Nets coach Byron Scott. "Plain and simple, we blew it. We just stopped playing in the fourth quarter. We went hard for three but forgot the last one. We went from attack mode to lackadaisical."

And what a three quarters it was for the New Jersey Nets. Never in these playoffs have they come out with such defensive intensity and all-around focus. The fastbreak was as crisp as ever. Defensive rotations were quick and always on time. Scott played 10 guys in the first half.

The Nets often had all five players touch the ball before finding a cutter or a wide-open jumpshooter. On the other hand, the Celtics were content forcing up bad shots after one-on-one penetration. In the first half, the Nets had an amazing 18 assists on 25 baskets. The Celtics had just four assists on 10 buckets. Fastbreak points? Twelve to zero, Nets. But all of that only set the stage for the biggest fourth-quarter playoff crumble since the Rockets choked away 18 points to the Suns on May 5, 1994.

When the third quarter rolled around the Fleet Center faithful were as quiet as the mice in the old Boston Garden. The green guys' body language suggested Game 4 couldn't come fast enough. In the third, the Nets lead ballooned to 26. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, it was 21. Then they made their first mistake of the night. They laughed at Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce. Literally.

"I looked over at their bench and they were laughing at us like we were nothing," said Walker. "I grabbed Paul and said 'You see that? They think we're a joke'."

The Celtics took it personally and Pierce finally woke up. Through the first three quarters he was 2-14 and on his way to having a dreadful series. But he began beating the Nets' double teams and slicing inside for tough hoops and the foul. Kenny Anderson finding his medium-range jumper in the last quarter made the Nets doublers even more indecisive.

Rebounds they didn't get in the first half were falling into their hands thanks to much-improved boxing out. The Nets' terrific D had morphed in to clutching, clawing and grabbing which led to bad fouls that put the Celtics in the bonus early in the fourth.

On the other end, the Nets half-court execution was nearly shot thanks in part to Anderson. His dogged pursuit of Jason Kidd prevented the Nets from successfully executing their beloved pick-n-roll once the entire fourth quarter. The normally indomitable Kidd spent much of the shot clock dribbling east and west while his teammates were smothered by the unlikely pair of Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers, who both played the entire fourth quarter. The Nets rarely got a clean look at the basket in the fourth with the exception of sub Aaron Williams' point-blank buckets.

"Things changed when we stopped being aggressive," said Kidd. "That's what killed us."

"We thought we won the game," said Kerry Kittles. "We got careless."

In the locker room after the game, the Nets players were stunned and devastated. They tried to tell themselves that it was just one game but they didn't even believe themselves. Over the next two days, the Nets must deal with the humiliation of such a collapse while somehow getting their minds in attack mode one more time. It will be the biggest challenge of their miracle year.

Giving Game 3 away could very well cost the Nets their season. All the Celtics have to do is win their home games the rest of the way.

If they do, well, at least the Nets are a part of history.

Chris Palmer is a staff writer for ESPN the Magazine.