The Boston Celtics took control of home-court advantage by virtue of winning Game 1 back in Oakland over the Golden State Warriors. They made sure they kept it in Game 3 on Wednesday night as they went ahead 2-1 in the series courtesy of a 116-100 victory. For the second time in the series, they had a very strong closing 12 minutes that helped them, ‘beating’ their visitors 23-11 in the final quarter to seal the deal.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 53 points and each came up just a rebound shy of a double-double while Marcus Smart put up 24 in the victory that has them two wins away from hauling in another title for a franchise that has been so blessed with titles in the past. On the opposite side, Steph Curry led all scorers with 31 points, 18 of which came from the three-point line. Klay Thompson performed well, too, knocking down five three’s on the way to racking up 25 in defeat. The series, no doubt, is far from over at this stage, but the Warriors will feel a lot of pressure in Game 4 back in Boston on Friday as they need a win to prevent slipping into a 3-1 hole. And that pressure could be ramped up by the possibility of losing Curry, who was injured late on, for any amount of time.
