Warriors 11-26 Celtics, 3:48, first quarter
White makes a layup. Steph Curry hits a jumper to try to get the Warriors going but Horford—mostly invisible on Sunday—dunks and that’s going to force the Warriors to take a timeout.
Warriors 9-22 Celtics, 4:26, first quarter
Marcus Smart is on the line with two free throws and… misses both. Maybe the only thing that’s gone wrong for them so far this quarter. Wiggins can’t connect for the Warriors but Horford can on the other end.
And there’s a Golden State turnover but Draymond Green pops in and commits the cleanest block you’ll ever see. Boston maintains possession though and Brown scores.
The Celtics have avoided turnovers early. They need to emphasize that, I think. Wouldn’t shock me if this is a “good start, don’t get cocky” speech from Udoka.
Warriors 9-18 Celtics, 5:44, first quarter
Wiggins sneaks through the Celtics defense to score a layup. What a second act to his career! Brown however floats one up, he’s got 10 points already.
Curry picks up his second foul halfway through the first quarter. That’s also something to watch for. The Celtics take a timeout.
Warriors 7-16 Celtics, 6:51, first quarter
Warriors getting some good looks just not hitting them early. Something to watch. Wiggins with a pretty obvious offensive foul turns the ball over but the Celtics early turn it over on the next possession. Tatum loses control but manages to keep the ball.
Brown gets free throws after being fouled by Gary Payton II, just in for Kevon Looney. Brown makes both of his free throws.
Warriors 7-14 Celtics, 7:55, first quarter
Tatum answers that, however, getting to the basket to regain the eight-point lead. Derrick White is in early to replace Williams and Curry immediately hits a three. Marcus Smart posts up for another basket in the paint. The Celtics are feeling it early.
Warriors 2-10 Celtics, 10:03, first quarter
Horford with a three-pointer. Brown with a three-pointer! I’ve never heard the Garden this loud this early in a game. That’s a 10-0 run.
Warriors 2-4 Celtics, 11:03, first quarter
Brown answers with a three-pointer and then Jayson Tatum gets fouled and his arm seems not right here. On the line, Tatum makes one of two free throws.
Opening TipWarriors 2-0 Celtics, 11:27, first quarter
Green gets booed during the introductions. Warriors win the tip. We have basketball. Kevon Looney scores first.
This could, in fact, be the entirety of the game.
National Anthem
Michelle Brooks-Thompson sings. It’s fine. San Francisco had more fun with “The Star Spangled Banner.” 6/10
Michelle Brooks-Thompson sings the national anthem before Game 3. Photograph: Steven Senne/APThe first Finals game in TD Garden since 2010. Earlier today there was a massive fraud alert, so there’s a good chance that not everybody who thought they had tickets are going to be getting in.
Boston Celtics starting lineup
Jayson Tatum, G/F
Marcus Smart, G
Jaylen Brown, F/G
Robert Williams, C
Al Horford, F
A cool thing about Boston being in the NBA Finals: they’re going heavy with the Gang Starr in these pregame montages. (R.I.P. Guru, Boston legend)
Golden State Warriors starting lineup
Steph Curry, G
Klay Thompson, G/F
Draymond Green, C/F
Kevon Looney, C/F
Andrew Wiggins, F
Stephen A. Smith says that Draymond Green knows that these refs are going to be biased against him and that he won’t be able to be as… involved, let’s say, as in Game 2.
He’s probably not wrong! Also, wow is this Boston crowd about to rain anger at him.
Derrick White
I am biased, but I still say the unlikely story of Derrick White’s unusual road to the NBA and convoluted way to the NBA Finals with the Boston Celtics is worth reading. We have some time here, especially since Opening Tip always seems to be a nebulous point in time.
(No, I don’t know why the games still start at 9 pm EST even though we’re no longer on the West Coast.)
Predictions
Me? I’ve seen this pattern enough: the Celtics get humiliated after they stumble way through a winnable game that turns into an embarrassing loss through their own carelessness, get it together and pull off a huge victory. They haven’t lost twice yet—as previously mentioned—and I see that continuing here. This might even be a relatively stress-free win, think double-digits by the fourth even though the live commentator in me hopes not to get two straight games that were decided that early.
Your thoughts? Once again I’d remind everybody that they can email their predictions to [email protected] or tweet it to @HunterFelt and we’ll include them throughout this liveblog. Unless it’s like, halfway through the fourth quarter. That’s just cheating, isn’t it?
Injury Report
For what it’s worth, Andre Iguodala is available to play tonight for the Golden State Warriors. Didn’t really feel like they needed him in Game 2.
Robert Williams is also good to go for the Boston Celtics, but hopefully, he looks better than he did on Sunday when he was hobbled to the point of hurting the team. When he’s healthy, it’s quite obvious (especially to the other team).
Scott Foster
For all of those who were hoping that we wouldn’t get a ref show this time around after Game 2’s nonsense? Sorry, Scott Foster is here as part of NBA’s crew.
If you want to know if you’re not a well-respected official, just think that all the betting sites immediately took notice of this and sent me a whole bunch of emails about how this could affect the game. The Celtics are 3-1 in playoff games officiated by Foster this year, for what that’s worth.
Draymond Green
The key moment in Game 2? Well, there was a moment during an on-court encounter between the Warriors’ Draymond Green and the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown where the officials could (and arguably should) have been called for double technical fouls. However, doing so would have meant that Green, Golden State’s defensive engine, would have to be ejected having picked up a tech early in the game.
Knowing that was a tricky thing to do in the middle of a playoff game, they decided not to call for them. Green stayed in the game and his defensive energy—not to mention the frustration on part of the Celtics that he was even still in the game—was a key reason for Boston’s collapse.
Like it or not, the rules change in the playoffs and the Celtics knew that going in. It’s hard for them to get angry about it, especially since the game was an absolute blowout loss in the end. As CelticsWire’s Justin Quinn rightfully notes: “That Boston allowed itself to be bothered by such antics that are, for better or worse, a feature of the modern game and not a bug, to the tune of 18 turnovers is why they lost the game.”
Context: Boston teams have a history, some of it (but not all) apocryphal, of not playing entirely on the up and up.
Preamble
Well, that was much more predictable than Thursday’s Game 1. The Boston Celtics are not good at playing from ahead. So after a huge comeback victory over the Golden State Warriors the previous game, the Celtics decided to redo the third-quarter collapse while avoiding a replay of the miracle fourth. So, yeah, it was a huge loss for Boston, to the point that Celtics head coach Ime Udoka pulled his starters well before the final buzzer.
It shouldn’t have been shocking considering their opponents: the chances of them getting both road games to start the 2022 NBA Finals against this Warriors team was always slim. The Warriors tied up the NBA Finals 1-1 and guaranteed what we all expected heading in: this will be a long series. I don’t see either team winning three straight against each other.
Keep in mind that the Celtics haven’t lost two games in a row all postseason long. Normally that’s a good stat to have in one’s back pocket, but Boston can’t be complacent. I recall a message from “Scream 3,” all bets are off in the third installment of the series.
While we all bear witness you can write to us and have your Finals Game 3 thoughts posted here for all to see. If you would prefer to use email, send them to [email protected] or you can tweet them to @HunterFelt. It’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Opening tip is set for 9:00 pm EST but we’ll be back well before then with news, predictions and random tomfoolery.
Hunter will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s a look back at Golden State’s Game 2 win.