The NBA can feel a little predictable at times. Teams put together a core that just seems to win and win and win. The Showtime Lakers. Jordan’s Bulls. Duncan’s Spurs and Kobe’s Lakers. Whichever team LeBron was on in a given year.
But you have to admire the greatness. And the Warriors have it -- not just with Curry but with Thompson and with coach Steve Kerr, who’s making a case to up alongside Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich as the best coaches of the last several decades.
And it’s never easy. The Celtics had the better of this game for maybe 42 minutes. The Warriors needed every last contribution from Wiggins, Poole and even the much-maligned Draymond Green.
That’s all for me for now. May we be blessed with a Game 7.
FINAL: Warriors 107-97 Celtics, series tied 2-2
Stephen Curry has been forgotten a bit while the Warriors have missed the finals during the COVID years. But he looks very much like the star of the team that went to five straight finals and won three of them. He broke away with 43 points and scrambled around the court for 10 rebounds.
It wasn’t quite single-handed. Klay Thompson, also showing no sign of being over the hill, had 18 clutch points. Andrew Wiggins had 16 rebounds to go with 17 points, and Jordan Poole had 14 in some quick stints off the bench.
For the Celtics, this one will sting. Jayson Tatum played well but was a little cold in the fourth. Everything was going so well until it wasn’t.
But the Celtics, while lacking the experience of the Warriors, have been resilient throughout the postseason. Advantage Warriors, given that they only have one more game in Boston, but this won’t be easy to close out.
Updated
Curry makes two free throws. Next update will be the final score.
Curry did push off. The refs disagree. I’m also a ref, and I’m right. So there.
That’ll just about do it. And that costs the Celtics their final timeout.
The Celtics challenge the call. They think Curry pushed off.
Warriors 102-97 Celtics, 46.8: Brown loses the ball out of bounds. Horford fouls Curry as he drives. Timeout Boston, and things are looking dim for the Celtics.
Warriors 102-97 Celtics, 56.1: Horford hits a big three on a Tatum assist. Thompson misses, but Green grabs the rebound, and Looney gets the layup.
Warriors 100-94 Celtics, 1:42: Al Horford misses a three. Curry doesn’t. Boston timeout.
Warriors 97-94 Celtics, 2:32: Curry is forced into a miss. Smart misses two threes. The ball is tied up with one second left on the Warriors’ shot clock, so it’s just as well that they lose the jump ball. This is insanity.
Updated
Idris Elba is now trending after an ad for an upcoming movie showed him punching a lion who was attacking him.
Warriors 97-94 Celtics, 3:21: Cue the procession of timeouts. Tatum misses a three, Draymond Green gets the rebound, and Steve Kerr calls timeout. A good 20 seconds of action between ads.
Warriors 97-94 Celtics, 3:41: Klay Thompson continues a late-game surge with a big three. Then it’s a jumper by Curry, who now has 35. The mini-dynasty is very much alive. Timeout Boston.
Warriors 92-94 Celtics, 4:53: And AGAIN the Warriors come back, helped in part by a no-call when Tatum drove and wound up on the floor.
Tatum snags a rebound off a Smart miss and whips the ball out to the recovering Smart, who hits the three.
Warriors 86-91 Celtics, 6:29: Good stat from the ABC/ESPN crew -- while the first three games in this series have been decided by 10 or more points, this game has not a double-digit lead either way.
Tatum gets a nice block on Curry.
Hmmm ... haven’t checked Twitter in a while ...
*checks Twitter*
Yeah, I’m not missing anything.
Warriors 86-90 Celtics, 7:32: Brown with the runner. Brown with the steal and a “layup” in which he was falling and had the ball maybe a foot off the ground when he released it. Timeout Warriors.
A lot of people keep wondering when Tatum will have that big definitive game, taking it all over. When you have Brown, Smart and company, why wouldn’t you share the load?
Warriors 86-86 Celtics, 8:06: Jordan Poole scores again to tie it. Brown loses the ball, but Tatum knocks it away on the Warriors fast break.
Warriors 84-86 Celtics, 8:56: Jaylen Brown hits the tough shot. Warriors turn it over.
But who’s that coming in off the bench?
Also -- Draymond Green has six rebounds and six assists.
Warriors 84-84 Celtics, 9:13: Tatum fakes, drives, finds White for the corner three. Poole answers with two. Tatum answers with three. Klay Thompson answers with three.
Want a weird stat? Curry has 33 points on 12-for-22 shooting, including a 6-of-13 performance behind the arc ... and his plus/minus is -1. Tatum is +10. Stats and damned lies, perhaps, but the issue for the Celtics is that Tatum, Brown and Robert Williams III have been bearing a lot of the load.
End third period: Warriors 79-78 Celtics
This is no longer Stephen Curry vs. Jayson Tatum. This is Stephen Curry vs. the entire Celtics team and the laws of physics. Tatum blocks Curry’s last-second heave, and the Celtics star is nearing his double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds, but Curry is getting it done single-handedly. Golden State outscores Boston 30-24 in the quarter, and we’re set for a thrilling finish.
Warriors 79-78 Celtics, 58.5 seconds, third period: You like lead changes? Gary Payton II puts Golden State ahead with a layup. Al Horford hits a three to put Boston in front. Then ... guess who? Curry again.
Warriors 74-75 Celtics, 1:31, third period: Remember when NBA stars used to draw fouls whenever anyone breathed in their direction? Not happening for Curry and Tatum here, both of whom have some complaints.
Meanwhile, Jesus Ferreira finally breaks the deadlock, giving the US a 1-0 lead over Grenada.
Warriors 73-73 Celtics, 2:31, third period: Tatum returns from a brief spell on the bench, but after a couple of misses and turnovers, guess who hits another twisting effort, this time from ... apparently 33 feet? And he probably should’ve gone to the line as well. Curry now has 30. The Celtics call timeout.
Warriors 70-71 Celtics, 4:19, third period: Sorry, I was catching my breath. And the Celtics might want to slow things down again after seeing Curry launch another long-range effort with his body twisting in the air like Aly Raisman in the floor exercise.
Warriors 63-68 Celtics, 6:14, third period: A Curry three followed by two miscues from Tatum gives the Warriors a lift, but Klay Thompson misses a couple of shots sandwiched around his block on Tatum, and Marcus Smart’s jumper leads to a timeout.
Curry has 24 now. Tatum 18. Brown 15.
Warriors 60-66 Celtics, 7:31, third period: The summer of Draymond Green’s discontent continues, with Jaylen Brown drawing a foul from the controversial Warrior and finishing beautifully. He adds the free throw to run the lead back to six.
Warriors 60-63 Celtics, 7:47, third period: Golden State’s NBA Finals experience is showing. They simply won’t let the Celtics pull away. Otto Porter Jr. gets a rebound, draws a foul from Tatum, and hits two free throws.
Warriors 56-63 Celtics, 8:52, third period: It’s frenetic right now, and the Celtics are getting the better of it.
Warriors 54-59 Celtics, 10:06, third period: Three from Smart, two more from Smart on a dunk after his own steal, and we’re not tied.
Warriors 54-54 Celtics, 11:22, third period: Two from Curry, three from Thompson, and we’re tied.
Celebrity spotting ...
You might think there are more notable Bostonians, but how many gold medals does Ben Affleck have?
Updated
Some interesting stats ...
Jayson Tatum played 21 out of 24 possible minutes in the first half, scoring 16 with seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks, offset somewhat by his four turnovers. But he also has a plus/minus score of +14. In other words, in the three minutes he was out of the game, the Warriors outscored the Celtics by nine.
Stephen Curry has 19 points in 19 minutes, but his plus/minus is -7.
And what of Otto Porter Jr., the Warriors’ surprise starter? No points, no rebounds, no assists, no blocks, no steals. But maybe the move lit a fire under Kevon Looney, who has nine rebounds in 13 minutes.
Draymond Green is 0-for-4.
Derrick White has been an exception to Boston’s poor performance at the line, hitting all five of his free throws, but fans will remember his first-half performance mostly for this:
➕1️⃣ pic.twitter.com/LCaht1ic7J
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 11, 2022
Halftime: Warriors 49-54 Celtics
Tatum bounces back with a nifty layup. Looney gets the last laugh, so to speak, with a dunk on the offensive glass, and Tatum can’t hit a wild buzzer-beater from the corner.
Compelling stuff as expected.
Warriors 47-52 Celtics, 34.3 seconds, second period: Andrew Wiggins drives at light speed toward Tatum and still converts the shot somehow. Tatum misses at the other end, continuing an inefficient quarter. But the Celtics force Curry into a foul, and White drains a three.
Warriors 45-49 Celtics, 2:14, second period: Curry adroitly drives and draws a foul from Jaylen Brown, the Boston man’s second foul in short order and third overall. He also hits the shot and the free throw. Still a marvel.
Warriors 42-49 Celtics, 2:49, second period: It’s all Al Horford right now. He’s fouled hard to prevent a dunk, then shrugs it off to hit both free throws. At the other end, he saves a ball for a defensive rebound, starting a fast break that ends with Derrick White’s acrobatic layup with the and-one.
Warriors 42-44 Celtics, 3:42, second period: Jordan Poole has 10 points in nine minutes off the bench for the Warriors. Unfortunately, he also has three fouls now.
Smart hits a three to put Boston back in front.
Warriors 40-39 Celtics, 4:59, second period: Both teams have gone colder than the curling surface on which I’ll be playing next week.
Someone is unhappy with the refs:
new Celtics jersey is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/uZLYyzY9Ou
— why does damion lee exist (@Joshuamann51) June 11, 2022
Warriors 39-39 Celtics, 5:50, second period: Jaylen Brown ties it on a nice drive. The Celtics defense springs to life and pops the ball free, and Tatum runs three-quarters of the way down the court trying to keep the ball in play. Didn’t get it, but Kerr has seen enough for now. Timeout Warriors.
Warriors 39-37 Celtics, 6:23, second period: After a Tatum drive is good, the Boston crowd gets something even better, as Al Horford swats away a Draymond Green shot like an early-summer mosquito.
The crowd is chanting, “Let’s go Draymond.” Except they’re not saying “Let’s go.”
Warriors 37-35 Celtics, 6:56, second period: Warriors coach Steve Kerr gets a technical foul after one too many complaints. He had a point on this one but not the Draymond Green call.
Tatum misses the free throw. Payton Pritchard misses a free throw. Yikes. Pritchard finally hits one.
Warriors 35-34 Celtics, 7:27, second period: Draymond Green slams into a defender and then gripes that he didn’t get the call. Steve Kerr joins him.
Jaylen Brown hits an impressive 3-pointer as Klay Thompson fouls him through a Celtics teammate who’s setting a screen. Thompson nearly knocked a Celtic into Brown, but the sharpshooter didn’t seem to mind.
And then Brown missed the free throw. Go figure.
Long shot:
Draymond’s defense leads to a JP three 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ucxjcxaqDr
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) June 11, 2022
According to my Twitter page, WWE Smackdown is trending, and this game is not. Civilization is doomed.
Warriors 33-28 Celtics, 9:27, second period: A couple of bad passes from Tatum, a couple of 3s from Jordan Poole (not Peele), and the Celtics again call timeout.
Warriors 27-28 Celtics, 9:48, second period: No one has scored through 2:12 in the period.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr is asked between periods about the key to Stephen Curry’s hot start. “He’s really good at basketball,” Kerr says. He’s more eloquent when he’s talking on social issues, though you could certainly argue that’s as good an answer as any to the Curry question.
Nice pass from Robert Williams III to Grant Williams on the last play of the quarter:
🚨 CORNER OFFICE 🚨 pic.twitter.com/i0LfmkBVkD
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 11, 2022
End first period: Warriors 27-28 Celtics
Could we be looking at an epic showdown between an older star and a younger star? Curry and Tatum each have 12 points. And three rebounds. And two assists. And one foul. Mirrors.
Grant Williams provides the final margin in the first quarter with a 3-pointer from the corner, and the Celtics are back in front.
Warriors 23-22 Celtics, 56.6 seconds, first period: The timeout must have worked. Also, Curry might be a little overconfident now, launching a shot with hang time that would impress an NFL punter. No good. Brown makes a shot and Williams follows up a miss to cut into that lead.
Warriors 23-18 Celtics, 2:01, first period: Remember when the Warriors hadn’t hit any 3s? They’re not missing any more. Curry hits two of them in less than a minute, and a suddenly reeling Boston team calls timeout.
Warriors 15-16 Celtics, 3:25, first period: Boston has dominated and only leads by one. Very strange. Wiggins does the damage here with another patient 3-pointer.
And what a shock. ABC/ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy is complaining about the refs. I’d love to see him come to the soccer games I’m reffing tomorrow -- I haven’t used my cards in a while.
Warriors 12-16 Celtics, 4:18, first period: It’s a little sloppy now. Curry bangs the ball off Horford’s leg to keep possession. Then Draymond Green picks up his second foul, much to the crowd’s delight.
Warriors 12-14 Celtics, 4:53, first period: Gotta love the momentum swings in basketball. A scramble leaves Wiggins wide open for a 3-pointer, and we’re tied. Tatum responds with a jumper. He already has nine points.
Warriors 9-12 Celtics, 5:46, first period: Klay Thompson breaks the Warriors’ 3-point drought with a quick release off a good screen, and the lead is cut in half.
Looney must have been motivated by the benching, because he is cleaning the glass at both ends.
Shooting percentages: Boston 50.0%, Golden State 22.2%. Oops.
Warriors 6-12 Celtics, 6:41, first period: Well, that didn’t last long. Porter out, Looney in. Looney immediately collects an offensive rebound. And an offensive foul.
Tatum is called for an offensive foul at the other end, knocking into Wiggins after losing control at the top of the lane. Timeout.
Warriors 4-11 Celtics, 9:15, first period: Curry responds with two free throws after a foul by Marcus Smart, who follows up with an ill-advised pass to Al Horford on the baseline.
Then Smart wakes up with two quick assists to Tatum, who drains two 3-pointers sandwiching a block by Robert Williams III on Curry.
Warriors 2-3 Celtics, 10:56, first period: Uh oh. Stephen Curry has already picked up his first foul, a clear reach-in on Jayson Tatum.
And we’re off ...
And so is my TV. Minor hiccup. Watching on the laptop to start, though.
Should we just accept at this point that people are going to sing “per-o-lous” in the national anthem?
Good rendition, though.
Tipoff is imminent.
And ... the “Warriors come out to play” line was just cited in the ESPN pregame. Now I feel so derivative.
Lineup change for the Warriors tonight, with Otto Porter Jr. replacing Kevon Looney.
The move has brought about some skepticism:
Otto Porter Jr's last start?
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 11, 2022
The Warriors 22-point loss to the Celtics in mid-March.
As we approach 20 minutes until the time at which the pregame will end and the second pregame will begin (why can’t US sports events just start on the hour?), here’s a reminder that you can email me with your thoughts on the action. I might even check to see what’s been tweeted my way: @duresport.
Speaking of polarizing people, Stephen A. Smith is not on the ESPN pregame show because he’s attending his daughter’s graduation. They’re managing to carry on and shout without him. (In their defense, the Garden is already quite noisy.)
Draymond Green is disliked:
Draymond is already getting booed in warmups pic.twitter.com/A0vrqpFDgd
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) June 11, 2022
He also had an abysmal Game 3.
Warrrriors ... come out to plaaaay ...
(OK, I’m probably the 5,000th person to make that reference, but it’s still a good one.)
Game 4. Winner has the edge in the series. Either the Celtics go up 3-1 or the Warriors level the series with two games remaining at home (Games 5 and 7).
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Tom Kludt’s lookback at Game 3.
