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.
Robert Williams had his most dominant game of the postseason, altering innumerable shots on the way to a four-block, three-steal, 10-rebound, eight-point performance. The Celtics thus survived a 31-point, 12-for-22 night from Steph Curry.
Smart’s left corner 3-pointer, set up by a Tatum drive, gave the Celtics a 110-96 lead with 5:06 left.
The next time down Smart somehow came out of a four-player pileup with the ball – Green fouled out on the play, to the delight of the crowd with 4:07 left – and Horford finished off the possession with a lob to Rob Williams for the dunk.
Andrew Wiggins cut the Celtics lead to 112-100, but Smart drove for a 114-100 lead with 2:19 left.
Golden State once again dominated the third quarter, this time with a 17-3 run that included a Curry four-point play off what was ruled a Flagrant 1 foul by Horford. The Celtics barely pegged out of the quarter, courtesy of an 11-3 run for a 93-86 lead, before Klay Thompson hit his fifth 3-pointer, trimming the lead to 93-89.
But after getting outscored in the third, 33-25, the Celtics opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run that included a pair of Rob Williams steals, a banked Smart 3-pointer, and a Grant Williams putback for a 102-91 lead.
Tatum and Curry exchanged hoops, and with 7:22 left, Green picked up his fourth foul on Brown, who was only able to hit the second of two free throws.
But with Rob Williams altering every Golden State offering in sight, Tatum scored for a 107-96 lead with six minutes left.
Golden State came out of the subsequent timeout with a rough possession, ended by a deep Curry miss, and with 5:06 Tatum kicked out to Smart for a left corner three and a 110-96 lead.
After leading by as many as 18 points, and drawing power from Brown’s big first half, the Celtics carried a 68-56 lead into the break. Golden State heated up late, with three 3-pointers in the last five minutes.
Turnovers remained a problem, though, with the Warriors converting eight Celtics flubs into 14 points. Golden State has owned the third quarter over the first two games this series, and got a boost with back-to-back treys from Curry early in the quarter.
But Curry immediately picked up his fourth foul on Smart, who hit three free throws as a result. And when Green was whistled for an offensive foul, Horford quickly tossed an inbounds outlet to Brown for the transition dunk and a 77-64 Celtics lead.
But Golden State hit back with a withering 17-3 run that included the four-point play from Curry and an Otto Porter bomb on the ensuing possession. Curry came back with fourth trey of the quarter, and sixth of the night, for an 83-82 Golden State lead.
Smart took the lead back from downtown with 3:11 left in the third, and with first Grant Williams and then Thompson swapping 3-pointers in the last 48 seconds, the Celtics crawled out of the quarter with a 93-89 lead.
