Jaylen Brown scored 27 points, Jayson Tatum added 26 and the Boston Celtics beat back another third-quarter onslaught by the Golden State Warriors in a 116-100 victory on Wednesday night (Thursday NZT) that gave them a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
Marcus Smart added 24 points.
Stephen Curry led Golden State with 31 points and six 3-pointers. He had 15 points in a 33-25 third quarter by the Warriors but was hurt late in the fourth after Al Horford rolled into his leg on a loose ball.
It was similar to a play during the regular season in which Smart dove into Curry’s legs while chasing a loose ball.
Klay Thompson broke out of a finals slump and finished with 25 points and five 3-pointers.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is on Friday (Saturday NZT) in Boston.
The previous 39 times teams have split the first two games of the finals, the winner of Game 3 went on to win the series 82% of the time.
Feeding off the energy of the first TD Garden crowd to see an NBA Finals game since Boston’s last trip in 2010, the the 17-time NBA champion Celtics started fast and led by as many as 18 points in the first half.
Hall of Famer Bill Walton, who was a member of the Celtics' 1986 championship team, said he didn't think there was anything untoward going on.
“I'm surprised Steve didn't say anything about Red Auerbach,” he said.