NBA Finals | Warriors grab home win over Celtics in Game 2 to level series 1-1
The Hindu
Jayson Tatum found his scoring touch in Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors but the individual effort was not enough as the Boston Celtics were routed 107-88
Jayson Tatum found his scoring touch after a rare poor shooting night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals but it was the rest of his Boston Celtics teammates who went missing.
Now instead of going home in control of the Finals, the Celtics will need to regroup following a 107-88 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night.
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 and Jordan Poole connected from just inside of midcourt to cap the pivotal period.
“I don’t think we got as much penetration to the paint,” coach Ime Udoka said. “They switched a few more things. Then we turned the ball over and didn’t give ourselves a chance with a lot of those turnovers.”
Tatum bounced back from a 3-for-17 shooting performance in the opener to lead the way offensively for Boston with 28 points. But outside of a fast start by Jaylen Brown, he had no help and the Celtics had no answers.
Boston shot 37.5% overall and struggled all night to make anything inside the 3-point line. When the Celtics outside shooting went cold in the third quarter, the Warriors turned a close game into a rout with a 35-14 blitz.
Boston had five turnovers and four baskets in the crucial third quarter, leading to a 23-point deficit that was too much to try to overcome after the Celtics rallied from 12 points down after a bad third quarter to win the series opener.