WARRIORS ANSWER CALL
Curry has 29 points, plays starring role in huge third quarter
Just like in Game 1, the Golden State Warriors took command with a big third quarter.
Unlike Game 1, they finished the job.
The NBA Finals are now tied, after the Warriors turned a close game into a rout with a third-quarter masterpiece. Stephen Curry scored 29 points, Jordan Poole connected from just inside of midcourt to cap the pivotal quarter and the Warriors beat the Boston Celtics 107-88 on Sunday night in Game 2.
“I thought everybody was more engaged,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after his team improved to 5-0 after a loss in these playoffs. “It’s pretty obvious. Just our level of force and physicality was ramped up quite a bit, and it had to be.”
Poole finished with 17 points for the Warriors, who outscored Boston 35-14 in the third quarter to turn a two-point halftime lead into a 23-point edge. And when the Warriors then scored the first six points of the fourth, the Celtics waved the surrender flag and emptied their bench.
“We said we needed to play with desperation,” Curry said. “That’s what we did.”
Golden State also got 12 from Kevon Looney on 6for-6 shooting, and 11 apiece from Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson.
Jayson Tatum scored 21 of his 28 points in the first half for Boston. Jaylen Brown added 17 for the Celtics, but fought through a 5for-17 shooting night, and Derrick White scored 12.
Just like in Game 1, a huge run decided everything. The Celtics went on a 48-18 run in the second half to decide the opener. The Warriors didn’t wait that long in Game 2, going on a 4314 burst from late in the first half until early in the fourth quarter to turn a tie game into an absolute runaway.
Game 3 is Wednesday in Boston.
Curry had 14 of his points in the third, making three of his five 3-pointers in the quarter. Boston was 4 for 15 in the quarter, got outscored
21-6 on 3s and let the Warriors turn five turnovers into 11 points.
“Steph was breathtaking in that quarter,” Kerr said.
The Celtics turned a 15point third-quarter deficit into a 15-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 1, but that wasn’t happening again Sunday. Boston coach Ime Udoka even picked up a technical in an effort to show his displeasure with things, including whistles or lack thereof, to no avail.
“I just let them now how I felt throughout the game in a demonstrative way, on purpose, to get a technical,” Udoka said.
Poole provided the exclamation point as the third quarter closed, taking a pass in the final seconds, dribbling over the midcourt stripe, creating a bit of space for himself and letting fly. Swish.
Curry greeted him with a smile and a hug, the fans at Chase Center leaped to their feet — if they weren’t on them already — and the outcome was pretty much decided right there.
And for the first time, the crowd in the Warriors’ new building finally saw the Celtics lose. Boston entered the night 4-0 in the Warriors’ 3year-old home, the only team to have won its first four games in the arena.
The Celtics were bidding to join only two other teams — the 1993 Chicago Bulls and 1995 Houston Rockets — on the list of clubs that swept two road games to open the finals. Those Bulls and Rockets went on to win the championship, and 31 of the previous 36 teams to open with 2-0 leads ended up celebrating a title.
All is not lost for Boston. The Celtics need to only win their remaining home games to become champions, though that won’t be easy against a Warriors team that has won at least one road game in an NBA-record 26 consecutive playoff series.
“I think the deeper you get in the playoffs, the better the competition, the better the defense,” Kerr said. “So you have to adjust. You’ve got to figure out how to attack, and you have to do that
as a team. You have to do that individually, too.”
Snyder resigns
Quin Snyder guided the Utah Jazz to six consecutive playoff appearances, was an NBA coach of the year finalist just last season and won nearly 60 percent of his games with the franchise.
And he’s decided that was enough.
Snyder resigned Sunday as coach of the Jazz, ending an eight-year run of regularseason success but with the team never getting past the second round of the playoffs in his tenure.
Snyder released a statement through the team, part of it simply saying “it is time.”
“At the core, and what drives me every day is our players and their passion for the game, their desire to constantly work to improve and their dedication to the team and the Jazz,” Snyder said. “I strongly feel they need a new voice to continue to evolve. That’s it. No philosophical differences, no other reason. After eight years, I just feel it is time to move onward. I needed to take time to detach after the season and make sure this was the right decision.”
He went 372-264 with the Jazz, his winning percentage of .585 ranking as 18th-best among NBA coaches who
have worked for at least that long. He’s one of only two coaches to have a winning record with the Jazz, Jerry Sloan being the other.
His decision means the Jazz will have a fourth coach in the span of 33 years when next season begins. Sloan was followed by Tyrone Corbin, who was followed by Snyder.
“Quin Snyder has embodied what Jazz basketball is for the last eight years,” Jazz owner Ryan Smith said. “The tireless work ethic and attention to detail Quin displayed each day is a testament to the professional he is.”
Notable
Mike Fratello won everything from big games to an Emmy award. He also won the respect of his peers. Fratello was announced Sunday as this year’s recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. Fratello is the 17th winner. He has been involved in the NBA as a coach or broadcaster since the late 1970s. He spent parts of 17 seasons as a head coach in Atlanta, Cleveland and Memphis. He also won an Emmy as best oncamera sports analyst in New York in 2015.