BOSTON — It was solely the second quarter, however the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum appeared decided to construct on a theme as he eyed a possibility on Wednesday night time. He took a tough dribble at Stephen Curry, spun to his proper and drove straight into the lane earlier than depositing a layup over his smaller defender.
The Celtics have been wanting to familiarize themselves with the basket in Recreation 3 of the N.B.A. finals. In order that they used their measurement to bully varied members of the Golden State Warriors within the low submit and off the dribble. They tried layups. They dunked. They threw brief jumpers off the glass.
Within the course of, Boston even survived one in all Golden State’s hallmark third-quarter runs to flee with a 116-100 win at TD Backyard and take a 2-1 lead within the sequence. Recreation 4 is in Boston on Friday.
The Celtics, who opened the fourth quarter by constructing a wholesome cushion, have been led by Jaylen Brown, who had 27 factors and 9 rebounds. Tatum added 26 factors, 9 assists and 6 rebounds, and Marcus Sensible completed with 24 factors. Curry had 31 factors within the loss, and Klay Thompson added 25. The Celtics did most of their harm within the paint, the place they outscored Golden State, 52-26.
After the primary two video games have been in San Francisco, the sequence swung to Boston, a becoming website for the finals because the league celebrates the previous couple of flickering embers of its seventy fifth anniversary. The Celtics are chasing their 18th championship, whereas Golden State is making its sixth finals look in eight seasons.
Two of the league’s authentic franchises, the Celtics and the Warriors now mirror one another in one other essential method: Each rosters have been largely constructed by way of drafting. And whereas Boston is making its first finals look since 2010, Celtics Coach Ime Udoka mentioned he hoped to emulate Golden State’s long-term success.
“It’s a mannequin for what we need to do right here,” Udoka mentioned.
The Celtics, who misplaced Recreation 2 on Sunday, haven’t misplaced consecutive video games this postseason. Earlier than Wednesday’s sport, Udoka cited his workforce’s resilience.
“I believe we put it behind us fairly rapidly,” he mentioned, “and sort of attacked the areas that we did poorly and tried to enhance on these.”
About an hour and a half earlier than the beginning of Recreation 3, as a few of Golden State’s gamers made their method onto the courtroom for particular person warm-up work, the reserve guard Gary Payton II seen that one of many rims appeared a bit off. He was proper: It was about two inches too excessive.
“It occurs each every so often,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr mentioned earlier than the sport. “Gamers have a extremely sharp eye for that.”
The rim was quickly lowered to its correct 10-foot top, but it surely didn’t appear to assist. Golden State obtained off to a brutal begin, lacking 11 of its first 15 field-goal makes an attempt as Boston ran out to a 24-9 lead. Making issues worse, Curry picked up two early fouls.
If there was concern for the Celtics, it got here within the type of Tatum’s proper shoulder, which he first injured within the Japanese Convention finals towards Miami. On Wednesday, he was grimacing in ache after drawing a foul on an early drive.
However his 3-pointer halfway by way of the second quarter pushed the Celtics forward by 18. Boston shot 57.4 % from the sector to take a 68-56 lead at halftime.
All eyes, although, have been on the beginning of the second half. In Video games 1 and a couple of, Golden State had dominated each third quarters, outscoring Boston by a complete of 35 factors. The third quarter was significantly problematic for the Celtics in Recreation 2, once they shot 4 of 17 from the sector, dedicated 5 turnovers and have been outscored, 35-14. An in depth sport rapidly changed into a rout.
On Wednesday, Golden State was trailing by 9 when the workforce summoned some extra third-quarter magic. Curry made a 3-pointer and absorbed contact for good measure when the Celtics’ Al Horford slid beneath him. It was dominated a flagrant-1 foul, which meant Golden State would retain possession after a free throw.
Curry sank the free throw, then Otto Porter Jr. buried one other 3-pointer for a 7-point possession that trimmed Boston’s result in 2.
It was an anxious second for the Celtics, who may have folded however as an alternative revealed their toughness as soon as extra. Early within the fourth quarter, Sensible banked in a 3-pointer. Moments later, Grant Williams corralled an offensive rebound for a put again, forcing Kerr to a name for a timeout as the house crowd roared.
