How the Celtics defeated the Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals

Follow Celtics-Warriors live. The Boston Celtics defeated the Golden State Warriors 116-100 to take a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Finals.
The Athletic NBA Staff
How the Celtics defeated the Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals

Summary

Follow Celtics-Warriors live.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Golden State Warriors 116-100 to take a 2-1 series lead in the NBA Finals.

With 5:06 remaining, Al Horford dove for a loose ball and landed on top of Steph Curry’s left ankle. Curry checked out of the game with 2:19 left.

For more information on Game 3, check out The Athletic's news story here.

How to watch the NBA Finals: Streaming and channels

TV: ABC

Stream the NBA Finals with Fubo TV | Hulu + Live TV

What are the odds for Warriors vs. Celtics?

Moneyline

Celtics: -160

Warriors: +135

Spread

Celtics: -3.5

Warriors: +3.5

Total

Over/under: 212.5

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(Photo: Kyle Terada / USA Today)

NBA Finals MVP watch through 3 games

  1. Jaylen Brown: 22.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 42.8 percent FG, 36.0 percent 3FG, 84.6 percent FT
  2. Steph Curry: 31.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.7 steals, 48.5 percent FG, 48.6 percent 3FG, 83.3 percent FT
  3. Jayson Tatum: 22.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 33.8 percent FG, 43.4 percent 3FG, 76.1 percent FT
  4. Marcus Smart: 14.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 47.0 percent FG, 41.1 percent 3FG, 71.4 percent FT
  5. Andrew Wiggins: 16.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.7 blocks, 44.1 percent FG, 31.2 percent 3FG, 75.0 percent FT

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Draymond Green, the Warriors’ emotional leader, got lost in Game 3

Draymond Green, the Warriors’ emotional leader, got lost in Game 3

BOSTON — The most hated man in Boston was, just before midnight Wednesday, having a very cordial conversation with Jayson Tatum’s mother, Brandy Cole, who had Tatum’s son, Deuce, at her side.

She did not appear to despise Draymond Green.

“We’re not talking to you!” Cole said to Green, smiling.

Then, Green demanded Deuce give him five. Deuce hesitated, so Green lifted the 3-year-old high into the air, his little head almost touching the ceiling. Then little Deuce and Green’s son, D.J., who’d sat on the podium with his father, took a picture together.

This was about 45 minutes after Celtics fans had been chanting “F— you, Draymond!” in stereo, on opposite sides of TD Garden. They alternated that chant throughout Game 3 of the NBA Finals with “Draymond sucks!”

Another day in the life of Green, who played, in his own words, “like s—” and “soft” in the Celtics’ 116-100 victory over the Warriors, giving Boston a 2-1 series lead. It has been this way around Green for so long that the Warriors didn’t even seem to notice. After Game 2 of the Grizzlies series in May, when Green was elbowed in the face by the Grizzlies’ Xavier Tillman, Green fired off a double-finger salute to Memphis fans as he left the court. That cost him a $25,000 fine from the league — but, as Green noted at the time, he makes $25 million this year.

(Photo: Paul Rutherford / USA Today)

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The Warriors can blame Game 3 loss, Steph Curry’s foot sprain on their rebounding trouble

The Warriors can blame Game 3 loss, Steph Curry’s foot sprain on their rebounding trouble

BOSTON — If the Steph Curry late-fourth-quarter foot sprain turns into the defining moment of the NBA Finals, if it either sidelines or hinders Curry’s impact enough to send the Warriors quietly into their summer without a fourth title, they have a failed box-out to blame.

Jayson Tatum posted up Klay Thompson with 4:20 left and the Celtics up 12. Boston eventually won 116-100 to jump up 2-1 in the series. But, at this particular point, the Warriors still had faint life. They’d just need to pitch a near-perfect game in the final four minutes.

Thompson started it with sturdy defense on Tatum, forcing a 14-foot contested miss. But watch Marcus Smart crashing in from the perimeter. Jordan Poole barely tags him on the way past, while Curry and Andrew Wiggins ball-watch, allowing Smart to slip right between and whack the rebound into a loose-ball scramble.

That set off a pinball chain of events that ended with Al Horford’s weight coming down on Curry’s left foot. Curry lightly limped out of the arena near 1 a.m., grimacing whenever he put weight on a left foot sprain he said was more mild but similar to the injury he suffered against Boston in March, forcing him to miss a month.

“I don’t feel like I’ll miss a game,” Curry said. “Take advantage of these next 48 hours to get ready.”

(Photo: Winslow Townson / USA Today)

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Celtics continue run without a losing streak as Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum take control

Celtics continue run without a losing streak as Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum take control

Hosting their first NBA Finals game in the Garden in over a decade, the Boston Celtics entered Game 3 without consecutive losses throughout their entire wild postseason run. As Jaylen Brown exploded in the first quarter and Jayson Tatum took over the second, the Celtics were a step ahead of the Warriors, which had lured them into trap after trap a few nights earlier.

But with the Warriors, there’s always that sense everything can fall apart in an instant. So when Al Horford landed under a Steph Curry 3-pointer and a small mistake had suddenly evolved into what was essentially a surreal seven-point play, it looked like the third-quarter avalanche was happening again.

“Take the hits, keep fighting,” Celtics center Robert Williams III said. “They’re a great team that goes on runs, a lot of runs, but just withstanding the hit.”

(Photo: Kyle Terada / USA Today)

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Key stat, key moment from Warriors-Celtics Game 3

Key stat, key moment from Warriors-Celtics Game 3

Who was the guy? Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Yep, it was both of them. Brown was the guy early for the Boston Celtics. He had 17 points in the first quarter and 27 points on the night to go with nine rebounds and five assists. Tatum seemed to take over as the game progressed. Brown didn’t keep his scoring going, and he tends to have a big quarter and then kind of float off into the night, picking his spots from there. Tatum’s passing was there all night, his defense was pretty good, and he was scoring to help close the game. Tatum had 15 of his 26 points in the second half and finished with six rebounds and nine assists.

This is the point of keeping them together, right? This is the point of having the tandem. You might slow one of them at various points in the game, but when they’re playing team basketball like this, it’s simply too hard to keep them both down for extended periods throughout any given game. The Celtics took Game 3 thanks to the full efforts of their two stars.

(Photo: Winslow Townson / USA Today)

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More from Steph Curry on his foot injury

Steph Curry: "I'll be all right. Got caught underneath Al." Said he's in pain. Same foot sprain that he suffered against Boston earlier this season, but "not as bad". Said he doesn't believe he will miss Game 4.

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By The Athletic Staff

Jayson Tatum continues to put his name amongst the greats

By The Athletic Staff

The Celtics are undefeated after a loss during the playoffs

The Celtics are now 7-0 this postseason after a loss, tied for the most in NBA postseason history

By The Athletic Staff

Tatum, Brown, and Smart make history

They're the first trio to post 20-5-5 in the same NBA Finals since Kareem/Magic/Michael Cooper in 1984.

They're the only trio to do it twice in the same playoffs.

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Boston dominates in six major categories

After three games, The Celtics have more points, rebounds, assists, and blocks. They are also shooting a better three-point percentage and field goal percentage

Draymond Green lackluster performance in Game 3

This could be Draymond Green's worse performance in an NBA Finals game. He scored his least amount of points (two), tied his lowest plus-minus (-13), fouled out (second time of his career), dished out only three assists (second least of his career), and recorded zero steals for the first time since 2018.

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The biggest question for Golden State

The big question for the Warriors going forward revolves around Stephen Curry’s health. He did not look right after Al Horford rolled up on his left leg on a loose ball late in the fourth quarter. The play was reminiscent of the Marcus Smart loose ball dive in the regular season, which injured Curry’s left foot and caused him to miss the last 12 games of the regular season. Neither play was intentional, of course, but it’s hard to miss the similarities. It’s bad news if Curry is slightly compromised while playing and even worse news if he has to miss time.

Celtics hang on to defeat Warriors in Game 3, take 2-1 series lead

The Boston Celtics survived yet another bad third quarter in the NBA Finals, and as a result are just two wins from an NBA-best 18th championship.

Jayson Tatum scored 26 points and the Celtics won Game 3 over the Golden State Warriors, 116-100. Stephen Curry remains red hot in this series, scoring 31 points in the loss.

(Photo: Kyle Terada / USA Today)

Steph Curry only attempts one free throw in Game 3

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