Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30), forward Draymond Green (23), and owner Joe Lacob in blue sport jacket seated in the front row all look disappointed after looking at the scoreboard in the third quarter against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden in Boston on Wed Jun 8, 2022 (AP News photo)

Boston Tops Golden State In Game Three 116-100

By Barbara Mason

Wednesday night the Golden State Warriors took on the Boston Celtics in the third game of the NBA final series. This series was tied 1-1 with Boston taking the first game of the series and the Warriors taking game two.

Golden State played game 3 in Boston and dropped the contest 116-100. The Warriors needed to take at least one of those two games before returning back to Chase and will have another chance at the Celtics on Friday night.

After totally dominating Boston in game 2 the Warriors didn’t have that same energy in game 3 on Wednesday night. It was a given that Golden State would see a far different Celtic team from the one they saw in game two and sure enough the Celtics were prepared in this game 3.

Game 3 recap: Boston had a vastly improved offense and defense through the first two quarters. They totally dominated the first half. At one time they led by 18 points but the Warriors cut it to 68-56 at the half. Golden State was leaving too many open shots and the Celtics were taking full advantage. The Warriors offense was struggling making some poor shooting making choices.

It was not until 3:32 in the third quarter that the Warriors took the lead since they led 2-0 in the first quarter. The Celtics quickly got back on top but the Warriors remained within striking distance. Both Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry were having a great game trailing after three quarters 93-89.

Boston got back on track in the fourth quarter taking a 102-91 lead in the early minutes of the quarter. Turnovers in the fourth quarter were hurting Golden State and the fact that Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Curry all had four personals was also disconcerting.

Nothing could slow down the Boston Celtics in this game. They played a great offensive and defensive game. The Warriors only had two leads in the entire game. With two minutes left the Warrior bench finished the game.

Boston took a 2-1 series lead winning this game. Jalen Brown was the point leader with 27 points and Jason Tatum was close behind with 26. Both Marcus Smart and Al Horford had a greatly improved game.

Klay Thompson had a 25 point game and Curry was the point leader with 31 points but it was not enough to top the lights out shooting that the Celtics were operating with. Golden State collapsed in the fourth quarter.

They had six turnovers in the final quarter and the Warriors could not overcome the play of Boston. “The offensive rebounds were the killer. Those were tough,” said Head Coach Steve Kerr after the game.

Friday night the Warriors will try to even the series in Game Four at TD Garden in Boston. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 PM.