The Celtics wanted to respond to the physical challenge imposed by the Warriors in the previous game (107-88) and it showed. They won the battle on this plan and it did damage since Stephen Curry hurt his left leg, on which Al Horford fell heavily in the fight for a ball.
At that time, four minutes from the end of the match, Boston held its victory well (110-96). And the double MVP (2015, 2016) of Golden State, so brilliant before this blow (31 pts at 12/22, 4 rebounds), went, head down and grimacing, to sit on the bench. Next to Draymond Green, who had just suffered his sixth foul on the action, synonymous with exclusion, reaping the bronca of the excited fans of the Celtics.
The memory of Abdul-Jabbar, Magic and Cooper
They might exult for the first game of an NBA Finals played at TD Garden in twelve years and fourteen years following celebrating their 17th title there. A meeting illuminated by the performance of three men in a state of grace. The Celtics trio, Jayson Tatum (26 pts, 9 assists, 6 rebounds), Jaylen Brown (27 pts, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) and Marcus Smart (24 pts, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) is indeed the first to succeed at least 20 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds in an NBA final since the Lakers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper, authors of this performance in 1984 once morest the… Celtics.
“I was born in 1998, so it was a long time before… but it’s nice to be in such company. We can’t afford to be too happy tonight. We have to be ready for the next game because we know they will come back even more aggressive,” commented Tatum, who was more ready than in the first two games. In particular in the interior sector where Boston did not make the law, until returning to its garden. This time its domination was total since the team coached by Ime Udoka, who had called for a jump in this sector, scored twice as many points as Golden State (52-26) and took many more rebounds (47- 31), like Robert Williams III Imperial in defense (8 pts, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 steals).
More gas at the end for the Warriors
Reaping the rewards of a cannon start, the Celtics were up to 18 points ahead in the first period. But the third quarter was looming, the one during which the Warriors know how to do great damage. The jump did take place, since the Californians won (33-25), even managing to regain the advantage in score (83-82) by Curry, then author of his sixth and last three-point banderilla (on 11).
“But we were out of gas in the fourth quarter,” regretted their coach Steve Kerr followingwards. A fourth quarter, which is in these play-offs as much as that of Boston, with the defense found (23-11), that the third is in Golden State.
