The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Celtics step up on big stage, drop Warriors into 2-1 hole
Stephen Curry tried one of his patented floaters from the left side of the rim. Klay Thompson tried a layup from nearly the same spot a few minutes later. Slightly different shots from the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, with the exact same result: They were spiked out of bounds by the Boston Celtics.
Robert Williams III had the block on Curry, Jaylen Brown had the block on Thompson, and if there were any lingering questions about whether this stage is too big for the Celtics, they were answered in those sequences.
The Celtics might be too big for the Warriors. Boston has half the job done in these NBA Finals, now up 2-1 over Golden State after running out to a huge lead, wasting every bit of it and then closing strong to win 116-100 on Wednesday night. The Celtics, trailing late in the third quarter, faced pressure and stared it down. The Warriors now must do the same in Game 4 tonight, or else.
“I don’t think at this point there’s any anxiety from the players,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “We’ve been battle-tested throughout the playoffs.”
The Celtics were bigger, stronger, faster and tougher in Game 3, and if all that wasn’t damning enough, the Warriors will wait to find out if Curry was simply shaken up after getting slammed into by Boston’s Al Horford in the final minutes while a bunch of players were diving for a loose ball, or if he has resprained his left foot — the same injury he had late in the regular season, suffered against the Celtics.
“I’ll be all right,” Curry insisted. The Warriors know what the alternative would mean.
“We need him,” Thompson said, “if we want to win this thing.”
It’s more than just needing Curry. At this point, they might need him to be at his very best.
All is not lost. The Warriors have been here before. They’ve answered. The core of Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green were down 2-1 in the 2015 finals before rallying to win their first title together. They know how to turn things around.
They need to do it again today, or else a Celtics team that was 25-25 after 50 games this season is going to be on the brink of hanging an 18th championship banner.
“We’ll be better,” Green said after finishing with two points, four rebounds, three assists and six fouls.
An 18-point first-half Celtics lead got erased in the third quarter, as the Warriors went up 83-82. This is where a team that has exactly zero players who had been in the NBA Finals before last week could have panicked and folded. Instead, the Celtics recovered on the fly and outscored Golden State 34-17 from there. “We found a way,” Marcus Smart said.