JAYSON TATUM AND Jaylen Brown combined for 53 points as the Boston Celtics outmuscled the Golden State Warriors 116-100 to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals on Wednesday.
Boston, bullied by the Warriors in a game two blowout in San Francisco on Sunday, bounced back with a dominant physical performance to regain the initiative in the best-of-seven series in a pulsating clash at the Celtics’ TD Garden.
Warriors star Stephen Curry left the game with two minutes to go in the second quarter, grimacing in pain after emerging from a scrum of players who were scrambling for a loose ball. However, both player and Warriors coach Steve Kerr played down the incident and remained hopeful that Curry will return for Friday’s game four.
Brown led Boston scoring with 27 points, while Tatum had 26 points and Marcus Smart 24 as the Celtics moved to within two wins of a record 18th NBA crown.
Robert Williams III was the star of a rejuvenated Boston defensive performance, hauling in 10 rebounds, blocking four shots and pilfering three steals to frustrate the Warriors.
Stephen Curry led Golden State with 31 points while Klay Thompson rediscovered his scoring touch with 25, but it was not enough for Steve Kerr’s side.
Celtics coach Ime Udoka pinpointed the rugged physical displays of Williams and Al Horford as a key to the win.
“We want to try to impose our will and size in this series,” Udoka said. “It’s going to be a back-and-forth battle as far as that, but when we get nights like this from (Williams and Horford), obviously it pays dividends for us.”
Warriors coach Kerr meanwhile said his team had been “plugging holes” throughout.
“They did a good job. They earned the win. They put a lot of pressure on us and felt like we were kind of swimming upstream most of the night,” Kerr said.
It looked as if a Warriors comeback was on the cards after a Curry three-pointer late in the third quarter gave Golden State their first lead since the opening seconds of the game at 83-82.
But Boston refused to buckle and regained the initiative to lead by four points heading into the final quarter.
The Celtics then surged clear with a 9-2 run at the start of the fourth to jump out to an 11-point lead before closing out a deserved victory.
A miserable night for Golden State was capped by defensive talisman Draymond Green fouling out in the fourth quarter to a cacophony of jeers from the Boston crowd.
“He had a tough game, but I trust Draymond as much as I trust anybody,” Kerr said. “He always bounces back from losses and from tough nights individually. He’ll be back on Friday.”
Earlier, the Celtics had jumped on the Warriors in the first quarter, racing into a 10-4 lead.
With Boston’s defense swarming all over Golden State, the Warriors were never able to generate any scoring momentum.
Instead it was Boston who kept the scoreline ticking over with Brown leading the way as the Celtics moved into a 15-point lead before finishing the first 11 points clear.
The Warriors improved their shooting markedly in the second quarter but a determined Boston maintained their double-digit advantage, outscoring the Warriors 35-34.
There were signs of a Warriors revival after the Celtics had stretched into an 18-point lead midway through the quarter, with Thompson and Curry both knocking down threes to help reduce the deficit to seven points at 56-49.
But whenever the Warriors seemed poised to close the gap further, Boston responded with a big play. Al Horford’s steal set up a dunk for Brown, who finished the half with 22 points as the Celtics took a 68-56 half-time lead.
Boston started the third quarter in the same manner, managing to re-establish a double-digit cushion whenever Golden State made a dent in the Celtics lead.
Eventually, though, the Warriors’ offensive pressure told and the momentum shifted in a matter of seconds when Curry’s three-pointer cut the Boston lead to six points at 82-76 with just over five minutes in the period remaining.
A flagrant foul by Horford turned it into a four-point play and Otto Porter Jr’s three-pointer from 26ft made it a two-point game.
But Boston powered back with Grant Williams draining a three-pointer to put the Celtics seven points clear at 93-86 before Thompson hit back from beyond the arc to make it a four-point game heading into the fourth.
Any hopes of a Warriors recovery were snuffed out in the Celtics decisive burst of scoring in the final period.
Quality player, very surprised he was dropped.
I’d be very surprised if he was dropped in the first place as he needed match time. He’s better than Jager in all facets that I’ve seen, scrum, maul and as we’ve all seen, in the lose. Jager, just not seeing it with him especially scrum. Am I missing something???
@Noel Lynn: Bealham is certainly well ahead of Jager and all other TH (Furlong apart) in Ireland, but I think Jager is doing a better job than you’re giving credit for. He’s been very good at scrum time for munster, especially when he came up against Porter, and was solid against Wales. His ruck defense was excellent both clearing and counter rucking and his goal line defense was superb. His lineout work wasn’t up to scratch IMO and he still needs to improve his S&C but he’s certainly got a high ceiling and a great addition to our TH stock.
@Noel Lynn: Short answer – yes
Easily the best TH after Furlong, who seems to have recovered some of his previous form. Great to have several options here between Furlong, Bealham, O’Toole and Jager. The order is not important as they are all playing well at the moment.
Literally no one else is suprised.
@Thesaltyurchin: I’m surprised, arguably pushing Furlong for a starting spot
Bealham is a quality player but I think it’s getting a bit clearer that farrell and his coaches are huge fans of jager. To go from the ‘training squad’ to the verge of the 1st choice 23 over a couple of weeks is pretty phenomenonal
@munsterman: jager has plenty to work on to over take Bealham. He may not have over taken TO’T yet, so 1 step at a time.
@Patrick O’Sullivan: well I’ve never seen farrell move so quickly to promote a player in a meaningful match. Even players like Joe Mccarthy and crowley had to put in their time in camp for a year or so. There’s every chance that bealham will be back-up th v England but you wouldn’t bet on it
@munsterman: There’s every chance that Bealham will start and Jager on the bench if Furlong injured.
@Con Cussed: yea that’d be the most likely scenario I’d imagine. It’s quite tough on otoole who’s been very good for Ireland too
@munsterman: Agreed. It just means the pressure is now on all four to keep the momentum up. It’s a tough position and injuries abound so can see them all getting a chance in the future.
This could mean Furlong has an injury concern… I hope not!
Has anyone authoritative said that Bealham was dropped? As far as I recall the mood music before the Welsh game was that Bealham had proved himself across a number of matches to be no great step down from Furlong; and that Farrell was taking advantage of a game we were almost certain to win to have a look at Jäger off the bench.
Depressing stuff
@Kevin Ryan: when have we ever seen farrell use a competitive game to just have a look at a player? The only time he ever changes up his side much is v the most tier2 of tier2 nations in Nov or else gets A games set up
@munsterman: Giving a guy a debut as a bench prop is not really changing the side much, though. And if he didn’t pick this game, he’d have to wait until the Autumn, assuming SA too strong. Anyways, we’ll see what Farrell does with the selection for the England game.
The story around Bealham is a bit of a head scratcher. Why was he dropped? Some say he needed time off as a new dad. Personally I believe the coaches think Jager is a better prop. When your coach uses faint praise to describe your last performance then you are in trouble. I think Farrell described Bealham’s last outing as “decent enough”. In all these scenarios the public never gets a true picture until someone writes a book.
@Tom Reilly: I seem to have missed him saying that about Bealham – was that in a press conference? I checked the post Italy match press conference again to refresh my memory, and Faz was effusive in his praise of the set piece, calling it excellent and top notch, so I’m surprised he would then be naming Finlay as not being a top performer. A lot of media said that Finlay was doing as much as he could possibly do to challenge Furlong for the starting berth on the back of his performance against Italy, so I don’t think I’m the only one who thought he performed excellent in that match.
@Tom Reilly: ah, I heard it now – it was from the pre-Wales match conference. To be honest, the way I hear it, it seemed more so saying that Oli deserved a chance in spite of Bealham having a decent performance. TBH, I think he couldn’t say “Wales’ scrum is poor so this is the best chance to give Oli a tryout in the six nations window”, so has to justify it on the basis of competition for places. If he said Finlay was excellent, then he would effectively be needing to say that Oli is even better, which would be a huge amount of pressure to put on a debutant. So, he kind of has to nearly qualify Bealham’s performance so as not to put down Wales.
@JoeVlogs: As I said earlier it is hard to know what exactly is going on. I think most people think Bealham did not deserve to be dropped from a playing point of view. Maybe something else is going on.
The euphemism that Alex Ferguson developed to replace “dropped” was “rotated.” The image that most of us have of a “dropped” player is of someone so bad in the last match that they had to be replaced. Sometimes it is about building squad depth, other times you were the Lions captain last week and this week not in the 23 – an utterly unexplainable event.
I suspect that Furlong has twinged his hamstring. If Furlong is out, Bealham absolutely starts ahead of Jager – and we all know that.
@PatN: I meant calf not hamstring
Bealham should be pushing Furlong for a starting position not getting dropped
When was the last v good game from Furlong?
@Derek Casserly: Last week!
There is much debate about the word “dropped” concerning Bealham. Was he or wasn’t he dropped. IMO if a player is available for selection, has been selected everytime he is available and then he is not selected, then he is indeed deemed “dropped”.
Let’s stop using the word “dropped”. To play at elite level you need a squad of 35 players and the ability to get game time into all of them. ( let’s not repeat RWC errors from the past). Rotatated is a much better word.