BOSTON — The crowd showed up loud, with a vocal hatred for Draymond Green that pushed Kyrie Irving back into the recesses of their acrimony for a change.
And in the midst of the scrums, hard fouls and yet another bad third quarter, the Celtics closed out Game 3 of the NBA Finals with a116-100 win for a 2-1 series lead. The Celtics have not lost consecutive games since March 30.
Jaylen Brown started the night off with a 22-point first half on the way to 27, and Jayson Tatum flirted with a triple double with 26 points, nine assists and six assists on a night when the Celtics star didn’t shoot particularly well (9-for-23). Marcus Smart, whose banked 3-pointer in the fourth set a closing tone, had 24 points.
