Jaylan Brown scored 27 points, Jason Tatum added 26 and the Boston Celtics beat another attack by the Golden State Warriors in the third quarter in a 116-100 victory Wednesday night, giving them a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
Marcus Smart added 24 points and helped lead a defensive effort that kept the Warriors to 11 points in the fourth quarter,
Stephen Curry led the Golden State with 31 points and six three-pointers. He scored 15 points in the third quarter 33-25 for the Warriors, but was injured at the end of the fourth after Al Horford rolled over at his feet on a missed ball. It was like a game during the regular season, in which Smart dives at Curry’s feet while chasing a loose ball.
Clay Thompson escaped the collapse of the final and finished with 25 points and five three-pointers. But the Warriors’ shooting couldn’t save them on the night the more athletic Celtics outscored them by a 47-31 rebound.
Game 4 is Friday in Boston.
The previous 39 times the teams separated the first two games in the finals, the winner of Game 3 won the series in 82% of the time.
Feeding on the energy of the TD Garden crowd, who mocked Draymond Green throughout his miserable night in the first game of the NBA Finals in Boston since 2010, the Celtics started fast and led by 18 points in the first half.
After losing in Game 2, in which Boston turned the ball 19 times, the Celtics’ ball movement was much clearer on the half-court, leading to open shots on the perimeter, auspicious 1-on-1 games and driving lanes.
This caused the Warriors to clash at times, which contributed to three Curry violations in the first 24 minutes.
But in addition to a Boston game, their early lead was erased in the third quarter by a seven-point Warriors possession, which included a four-point game by Curry when he made a rough 1 foul on Horford and a three by Otto Porter Jr. to put Golden State ahead. 83-82.
Boston recovered to take a 93-89 lead in the fourth. The Celtics regained the lead to 102-91 in the fourth and overtook the Golden State 23-11 in the fourth.
The Celtics led 56-39, before an 8-0 sprint in just 37 seconds from the Warriors to reduce the lead to 56-49 in Curry’s 3:32 by the end of the half. The series included a pair of missed free throws from Boston, along with missed passes and misses.
Boston stormed at the end of the half to lead 68-56 after half.
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