Jaylen Brown created the momentum for the Celtics by scoring 17 points in the 1st quarter. The Celtics attacked the paint and abused Steph Curry all night as he couldn’t stop anybody. They were playing whoever offense on him, in which whoever Curry guards will score. The Celtics led as much as 18 in the first half.

It looked like the Celtics were going to run away with the game until the end of the second quarter, when the Warriors started to make a comeback. The game was close at halftime. After that, the Warriors did their general third-quarter avalanche and took the lead. The Celtics needed to stop the drop coverage as the Warriors were taking advantage and hitting threes. The Celtics should have always been up on Curry, the greatest three-point shooter of all time, instead of dropping to the paint and giving him easy shots. Curry ended up hitting six threes in this game. The Celtics’ drop coverage didn’t work in games 1 and 2, so it was confusing why they were still doing it. The Warriors kept hitting shots.

The Warriors later collapsed in the 4th quarter, only scoring 11 points. Steph Curry somewhat injured his leg when everybody dived for the ball in a play midway through the 4th, and Al Horford landed on his leg. He is ok and will be ready for game 4. If Curry is injured, the Celtics are guaranteed to beat the Warriors. The Warriors had many turnovers in the 4th quarter leading to easy Celtic buckets. The Celtics also redeemed themselves in the 4th by getting key stops on defense and hitting clutch buckets. Robert Williams was on a minutes restriction due to his injury, but he still dominated the Warriors in those fewer minutes. Kevon Looney only played 17 minutes this game. Ime Udoka, the Celtics coach, responded by subbing Al Horford into the game. Horford and Williams grabbed all the offensive rebounds leading to easy second-chance points for the Celtics. They had a profound impact as they dominated the paint as the Warriors lacked a big on the court.

Tatum finally had a good game scoring 26 points and dishing out 9 assists. The Celtics big three of Tatum, Brown, and Smart all had over 20 points combining for a total of 77. They each also had 5 assists and 5 rebounds. This had not happened since 1984 when the Lakers’ trio of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Cooper did it.

Steph Curry scored 31 points, while Klay Thompson finally showed up, dropping 25 points. Draymond Green was pathetic tonight, having more fouls than points, rebounds, and assists combined. So far in these finals, Green has 15 points and 15 fouls. Yikes! Green also kept complaining to the refs about every call to the extent that it got annoying. He let the crowd get to his head. Green was also horrible on the defensive end. The Warriors need more from Green if they have to win this series. Jordan Poole also didn’t play to his capability in game 3. Curry got into foul trouble early on this game which limited his impact defensively and harmed the Warriors. Tatum and Brown went by Curry and scored all the time. The Celtics played whoever offense on Curry all night, knowing he would be hesitant to defend in fear of picking up another foul.

Turnovers were a critical factor in all three games in this NBA Finals. Before the series, I predicted that one of the most vital factors for both teams was to limit the turnovers. The Celtics had fewer turnovers in games 1 & 3, and the Warriors had fewer turnovers in game 2. The team with fewer turnovers ended up winning all three games.

The Celtics are now only two wins away from their record-breaking 18th championship. So far, I’m feeling good about my prediction of the Celtics in 7 as they now have the home-court advantage. However, things can change as both teams haven’t lost back-to-back games in this postseason. Game 4 will be a must-win for the Warriors. I don’t see the Celtics losing the series if they win game 4. They have been one of the best teams in the league since January. However, the Warriors had also made comebacks when they trailed in their playoff runs in the past. For example, they trailed against the Rockets in 2018 and against the Thunder in 2016. They came back to win both of those series. I’m excited to see how the rest of the series plays out.