Boston’s 16 rebounds in the glass was proof of a dynamic response to the Golden State Warriors’s win in Game 2, while Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum and Marcus Smart combined for a 77-16-1 win. The Celtics lead 2-1 in a row before the 4 home game on Friday at 9 p.m. ET. Stephen Curry led the Warriors to a 31-point loss before leaving with an obvious leg injury, with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Golden State does not plan to update its status until Thursday. Klay Thompson added 25 points in a bounce game for Golden State. Draymond Green, whose intensity pushed the Warriors to victory on Sunday, fouled with two points and four rebounds in 35 minutes. “I was gentle,” Green said clearly after the defeat. If there was ever a doubt that the Celtics would respond to the Warriors’ energy in Game 2, Boston responded in the first quarter. Led by the renewed Robert Williams III (10 rebounds, eight points, four steals, three steals), the Celtics outscored the Warriors 16-3 in the first eight minutes, taking as many offensive rebounds as Golden State had in total. Brown attacked Green from the dribble and climbed over him from the perimeter, scoring 17 of his 26 points in a 6-to-9 (3-4 3P) shot in the first quarter. The Warriors lost eight of their first 10 attempts in the 3-point range and could do nothing about the length of Boston at home. Even when Thompson was warming up, the Celtics responded, finding lay-offs in a friendly against Curry, Poole and almost everyone the Golden State dropped. Boston doubled the Warriors’ 16 points and surpassed them by 10 on second chances in the first half. Golden State made an inevitable 40-second run in the middle of the second half, once again taking advantage of the Celtics’ carelessness with basketball. Thompson and Curry sandwiched three-pointers around a Dunk Andrew Wiggins with three straight runs, and a minute later Curry’s layoff reduced the deficit by 17 points to 56-49 with more than three minutes left to play before halftime. The story goes on The Boston Celtics guard, Jalen Brown, reacts to a game in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors during the 3rd game of the NBA 2022 finals at TD Garden. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images) Boston scored five in a row and reduced the lead to 12 at halftime. It should have been more. The Celtics scored 68 points with 57% shooting from the field and 44% accuracy from deep in the first 24 minutes, but upsets continued to plague them as the Warriors scored 14 points from eight errors. Everyone who watched was expecting more magic in the third quarter from the Warriors. He did not come for six minutes. An occupation changed all that. Curry scored a three-pointer and officials confirmed that Al Horford had entered his landing area. The blatant foul-1 gave Golden State a free kick and the ball. The three-pointer by Otto Porter Jr. made seven points in a single trip to the floor, and Boston’s lead dropped to 82-80. Another three-pointer by Carrie, another minute later, gave Golden State its first lead after Kevin Looney’s layout 17 seconds after the game. Curry and Thompson combined for six of the Warriors’ seven three-pointers and 15 of their 33 points in the fourth, but Boston did enough to maintain a 93-89 lead and move into fourth place. The failure to finish on the edge disappointed Tatum in the first three ten minutes, but he entered the last frame. He targeted Carrie, whose fourth foul cost him enough aggression to open the door for Boston. The Celtics strengthened their defense in return and started the quarter with 9-2 to extend their lead again to 11. Golden State was no closer than eight points to the rest of the way. Tatum scored nine of his 27 points and Smart added eight of the 24 before Boston coach Ίme Udoka pulled out his home team with two minutes left in the quarter. When the final whistle was blown, the Celtics scored 52 points in the Warriors’ 26 and 22 second-half points in their 11, snatching four of their 15 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. Boston won the fuss and the game, a theme that is repeated in this series. Who will be the bully on Friday? Game 1: Celtics 120, Warriors 108 Match 2: Warriors 107, Celtics 88 Match 3: Celtics 116, Warriors 100 (Celtics lead 2-1) Match 4: Warriors in the Celtics, Friday, 9 p.m. ET (ABC) Match 5: Celtics at Warriors, Monday, June 13, 9 p.m. ET (ABC) Game 6: Warriors at Celtics, Thursday, June 16, 9 p.m. ET (ABC) * Match 7: Celtics at Warriors, Sunday, June 19, 8 p.m. ET (ABC) *

  • – it it’s necessary – – – – – – – Ben Rohrbach is a personal writer for Yahoo Sports. Do you have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach