NBA Finals: Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart drive Boston Celtics past Golden State Warriors in Game 3 | NBA News

The Boston Celtics withstood another third quarter surge by the Golden State Warriors and their strength in depth drove them to victory in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart performed masterfully on their respective home NBA Finals debuts but Boston had contributions from all across their roster – whereas the Golden State Warriors were primarily relying on another superb Stephen Curry performance and a resurgent display by Klay Thompson.

The Celtics trio became the first triumvirate since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper and Magic Johnson in 1984 to each record 20 points, five rebounds and five assists together in an NBA Finals game.

Boston got going early in front of a raucous crowd at TD Garden, with Brown knocking down 17 of his eventual 27 points in the opening quarter, adding nine rebounds and five assists for good measure. Tatum, who was looking to get the balance right between scoring and playmaking after excelling at both in separate games in the opening two games on the road, found the sweet spot in Game 3 with 26 points to go with nine assists. Smart did lots of great work down low, scoring in the post and finding space inside against Curry, who was in foul trouble at times, finishing with 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

But it wasn’t limited to just those three, it was the effort from every area of the floor that made the difference for Boston. Al Horford beat his Game 2 tally with his very first shot as he nailed a 3-pointer after scoring just two points on Sunday night, but he was also flying about like a man possessed – defending fiendishly, boxing out and chasing rebounds. He got 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists as well as a block and a steal.

Robert Williams III was a colossus for the Celtics. The big man seemed to gobble up every rebound in his vicinity (he finished with 10, to go with eight points) and also tallied four blocks and three steals, asserting himself as the best defensive big man in basketball when he is on his game. His footwork probably nudges him ahead of Rudy Gobert on that score and his team-high plus-minus of 21 underlined his contribution here.

For the Warriors it wasn’t all bad. Curry was brilliant with his 31-point display on 54.5 per cent shooting from the field and from 3-point range showing that he was scoring well, but his ability to make plays for team-mates dropped off, finishing with just a couple of assists.

Klay Thompson, after a slow start, finally found his shooting stroke, which bodes well for the rest of the series and finished with 25 points, whilst Andrew Wiggins had 18 – but the rest of the Warriors really struggled.

Part of it was the Celtics just making better and quicker decisions with the ball. In Game 2, when they were plagued with turnovers, they were driving into the paint without necessarily knowing where the kick-out pass would be going. On Wednesday night, they drove with purpose and even if it took a feint, a dummy or a couple of extra passes to get there, most of the time it was ending in the hands of the right shooter. And more often than not, those shots were going down.

There were tactical aspects to it as well: Horford started guarding Wiggins, with Tatum on Green to give Boston a better chance to defend Curry in the high pick-and-roll but in the Warriors third quarter surge – they won it by 33-25 this time, but retook the lead at one stage when the Celtics had once held an 18-point lead – the help defender was dropping way too deep on the Warriors’ two-time league MVP.

One sequence looked like it could be pivotal in triggering a huge momentum swing towards the Warriors. A seven-point swing.

Curry nailed a huge three, given too much space with Boston failing to get up and help when he went around the screen. Horford got in his landing zone so the refs called a flagrant one foul. Curry completed the four-point play from the line. The Warriors kept possession and Otto Porter Jr. sunk a massive jumper from beyond the arc to complete and 9-0 run in 90 seconds and make it a two-point game.

Boston, though, is now 7-0 after defeats during this season’s NBA Playoffs and they weren’t prepared to succumb to second successive defeat here. They had plenty of their own big moments.

Like in the first quarter when the bounce pass from Smart was flushed home by Brown. Or in the second when Tatum anticipated the triple-team early and fired it to Pritchard in space who drained the 3-pointer.

The biggest of the lot though probably came when Smart knocked a ball out of bounds off Draymond Green, and then Horford caught Golden State’s defense napping with a huge 90-foot inbounds pass to Brown who was free at the other end of the court to flush home a dunk.

Boston had more of these moments and that was enough to offset the big Warriors swing, which always comes. After the Warriors pushed back to get within four and brought a rested Crry back off the bench, the Celtics went on a 9-2 run to open the fourth – pushing the lead back to 11 and they never looked back from there.

Grant Wiliams and Green got chippy more than once and the Warriors veteran fouled out in the fourth when Curry was hurt on a play as Horford landed on him hustling to grab a loose ball. Green wasn’t happy and was sent packing after a poor display by his lofty standards.

He didn’t do enough, the Warriors didn’t do enough and the Celtics deservedly lead the NBA Finals. They are now just two wins away from an NBA record 18th title.

If they can win Game 4, also on their home floor, live on Sky Sports late on Friday night, that will put them within touching distance of glory that would seemed like fantasy when they sitting below .500 back in January.

The NBA Finals (TV listings here) continue on Sky Sports this week, subscribe to watch the live action.