2022 NBA Finals: Boston Celtics defeat Warriors, claim advantage in series
Smart, Tatum and Brown rewrite history
The Boston Celtics defeated the Golden State Warriors 116-100 in Game 3 of the 2022 NBA Finals after an impressive team effort to go 2-1 up in the series.
After losing Game 2 to the Warriors, Ime Udoka’s Celtics were back on home court at the TD Garden for the first time in the series. They looked to channel the energy they were receiving from the fans and made a fast start to the game.
After the Warriors scored the first bucket of the game, the Celtics took over the game and did not relinquish their lead throughout the rest of the first quarter, ending the quarter with a 33-22 lead over the Warriors.
Unlike in Game 2 where the Celtics failed to put the Warriors away, they continued their onslaught and drove home their advantage in the second quarter to head into half-time in possession of a 68-56 advantage.
The Golden State Warriors delivered their usual third quarter blitz and even claimed their first lead since the beginning of the match, but the Celtics retained their lead despite losing 33-25 in the third quarter.
The Celtics put the icing on the cake with another controlled fourth quarter performance to complete a brilliant 116-100 win over the Warriors in Game 3 of the 2022 NBA Finals.
The Celtics trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart made history as they became the first trio to make 20+ points, 5+ rebounds and 5+ assists in an NBA Finals game since 1984 when Kareem AbdulJabar, Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper did it for the Los Angeles Lakers. Tatum finished with 26 points, nine assists and six rebounds, Brown had 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and Smart had 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Steph Curry led the scoring for the Warriors with 31 points, and Klay Thompson scored 25 points in the game as the Warriors fell to another defeat in the 2022 NBA Finals.
The next game of the 2022 NBA Finals will take place on Saturday morning at the TD Garden in Boston, where the Celtics will look to press home their advantage.
