Boston Celtics

The Golden State Warriors knotted the NBA Finals at two games apiece after Stephen Curry dropped 43 points in a 107-97 Game 4 road win against Boston Celtics on Friday evening.

On the flip side, Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum struggled mightily.

The former Duke star did register a team-high 23 points, as well as 11 rebounds, six assists and three blocks.

However, he also shot 8-of-23 (4-of-15 on two-pointers) and committed six turnovers. Tatum started hot and found himself with 18 points three-plus minutes into the second half, but he scored just five the rest of the way.

He made his first fourth-quarter bucket—a three-pointer with 10:46 remaining—but missed his final four shots and did not score the remainder of the game.

Tatum has made just 28-of-82 field goals (34.1 percent) in the NBA Finals. His offensive efficiency is a legitimate concern right now, with Game 4 serving as the exclamation point.

NBA Twitter noted his struggles during the game.

Tatum is a three-time All-Star who just made his first-ever All-NBA First Team, and he's certainly capable of turning this around quickly. He'll get a chance to do just that for Game 5 on Monday at 9 p.m. ET in San Francisco's Chase Center.

The Horford family did not enjoy Al Horford's one-year stint in Philadelphia during the 2019-20 season.

"We stayed Celtics fans when he was in Philly and when he was in OKC. We couldn't let go,” his sister Maria told Jared Weiss of The Athletic. "They showed us so much love, and that wasn't something we were ready to let go of, so we just never did. And we're back!"

Horford's sister Anna and brother Josh were less subtle.

"Philly fans hated us there," Anna said. "They hated us for it."

"We continued to root for Boston, because they're not dickheads," Josh added.

Horford's play didn't endear him to the Philadelphia faithful, as he averaged 11.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 45 percent from the field (tied for a career worst) and 35 percent from three. He briefly lost his starting gig late in the season, and the Boston Celtics swept the Sixers in the first round of the bubble playoffs.

Horford's poor performance in Philadelphia wasn't solely on him, as he was a poor fit on a roster devoid of floor-spacing and shot creation. But considering he signed a four-year, $109 million contract, the move was seen as a bust, and the team flipped him to the Oklahoma City Thunder after one season to land Danny Green, a much better fit.

After mediocre seasons in both Philly and Oklahoma City, it seemed as though Horford's play might be declining later in his career, though he found new life back in Boston this season. But the time in Philly left a bad taste in the mouths of the Horford clan.

That cuts both ways, however. The Sixers and Celtics are traditional rivals, so it didn't play well in Philly when Anna Horford repeatedly admitted she was conflicted about Al's decision to sign with the Sixers.

"It was just weird," she told Josh Swartz of WBUR in January 2020. "It was just...it was bizarre. It was, just...I don't know. I don't even know how to explain it. It just didn't feel right."

“I feel very conflicted,” she said on the Celtics Lab podcast that August before the teams met in the postseason, adding: "There's that sense of wanting to support my family and my brother and his team, but also, they happen to be playing one of my favorite teams that I still love very, very much. And so kind of feels like we're part of the Celtics family in a way, me and my siblings at least—so yeah, it's very conflicting."

Not any longer. The Horfords clearly don't care for Philadelphia, and after Friday's quotes, the feeling will be mutual.

BOSTON — Draymond Green does not think his postgame podcasts during these NBA playoffs are telling any secrets. But they must be of some value to opponents—Celtics staffers are listening in. There's no question that the podcasts are an unprecedented feature in the evolving world of athletes talking directly to fans. It's less clear how they might support teams' scouting efforts.

In the Draymond Green Show, listeners are hearing in the middle of the playoffs what one of the sport's most cerebral players is thinking about the games he is playing in. The fact that someone as savvy as Green is speaking unprompted for roughly 30 minutes following each game is a first for the NBA. It's provided fascinating content for the league's observers far and wide.

Make no mistake—several Boston coaches are tuning in to every episode.

Dallas Mavericks staffers at least monitored snippets of the feed for information as well during the Western Conference Finals.

"Especially with the amount of time between Finals games," one NBA assistant coach told B/R. "Both teams are definitely looking for any small advantage they possibly can."

Green said after Wednesday's Game 3 he has no concerns he's tipping the Warriors' hand: "No. I don't say much different on the podcast than what I say [in postgame press conferences]."

Given the example that he had spoken about how the Warriors altered their approach to Derrick White, Marcus Smart and Al Horford between Games 1 and 2, Green dismissed any notions he'd said too much, saying, "That was just contested shots."

Multiple coaches and executives contacted by B/R also shrugged about Green's postgame programming. These are the sport's foremost coaches in the world. They see real-time adjustments and scheme tweaks. They process the action taking place on the hardwood almost instantaneously.

"I can see having someone on [the rival] staff listen, just in case there is something you didn't know," another assistant coach texted B/R. "But I think you are gonna be on top of things already."

Still, each data point in the NBA can help cast a wider net for an opponent. Every trade window, front-office personnel scroll through their Rolodexes in hopes of logging even the smallest intel on their opponents. Every draft period, the men and women hunkered down in war rooms across the map have collected countless shreds of knowledge to better understand whom rival teams will pick before their selection even arrives on the clock.

Following a Game 1 Warriors loss in which White, Smart and Horford shot 15-of-23 from distance, Green said on his podcast there would be changes for Game 2. He spoke of wanting to contest those shooters more.

Yes, that’s an obvious adjustment that Boston staffers would have prepared for, but being prepared for an outcome is far different from expecting it. The Warriors could have simply decided to dare White, Smart and Horford to make lightning strike Chase Center twice.

Some information can have a notable effect on playoff strategy. The Utah Jazz were prepared for Luka Doncic to play several of the early games in their opening-round series, but only until Dallas ruled the All-NBA floor general unavailable, which only happened when the Mavericks were finally required to by league rules. The Philadelphia 76ers took a $50,000 fine for failing to disclose Joel Embiid's status against Miami until after the NBA's firm deadline for doing so.

Those instances have far greater consequences than whether the Warriors planned to close out on White or Smart or Horford more aggressively in their next battle. But it was a data point nonetheless. From a Boston perspective, you could consider that idea was at least important enough to Green for him to repeat on his podcast. It's no secret to rival coaches that Warriors coach Steve Kerr and his staff often meet privately with Green, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala for deeper film discussion in addition to teamwide sessions. The tiniest comment from Green can at least provide the Celtics with some bulletin-board material.

Green and various league sources may dismiss the idea that his podcast is giving the Celtics any advantage. But for whatever reason, Celtics staffers are listening. That's testament to the special value of the show.

*Jake Fischer covers the NBA for Bleacher Report and is the author of Built to Lose: How the NBA's Tanking Era Changed the League Forever.

Boston Celtics star Marcus Smart didn't see anything untoward when teammate Al Horford dove for a loose ball and injured Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry during Boston's 116-100 win in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday.

Horford landed on Curry's left foot during the sequence, and the Warriors star appeared to be the worse for wear. Speaking with Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes, Smart thought Horford made a natural basketball play:

It's the Finals. You've got guys diving all over the place. Their guys are diving into us. We don't say nothing. We're getting hurt as well, but we continue to play. Nothing is intentional. It's the Finals. We're trying to win just like them. First one to the ball, as we all know, wins. They can complain all they want. It is what it is. There's nothing dirty about it. It's fair game. It's fair basketball. It's Finals basketball. … Nobody is out here trying to hurt anybody.

Curry opened his postgame press conference by saying he was in a bit of pain but expected to suit up in Game 4 on Friday. He added it's the same injury (a left foot sprain) he suffered in a game against Boston during the regular season.

Curry also told reporters he hadn't seen a replay of the loose-ball scramble, so he didn't want to draw any conclusions about Horford's intentions or whether the veteran big man was reckless.

In the case of his previous foot sprain, the two-time MVP was injured March 16 and missed the remainder of the regular season before returning for the postseason April 16.

Even if it's a more minor sprain this time, Curry's health could be a major storyline in the series. While he may be healthy enough to play, one full day of rest may not provide the time necessary for the foot to not bother him.

With Golden State down 2-1, the team could be in trouble if the 6'2" sharpshooter isn't at his best.

Warriors fans are probably having flashbacks to the 2016 Finals when Curry seemed to be less than 100 percent as the Cleveland Cavaliers completed their improbable comeback.

Should history repeat itself, Horford's fall is likely to take on an added significance and be even more of a sore point for many in the Bay Area.

A lesser team would have folded when Stephen Curry pumped in yet another three to give himself 15 third-quarter points—not to mention give the Golden State Warriors an 83-82 lead that would have seemed impossible minutes earlier.

The Boston Celtics are quite clearly not a lesser team.

That they absorbed the Warriors' patented third-quarter haymaker and then hit back with equal force down the stretch of Wednesday's 116-100 victory shows they may be on the way to something greater.

Golden State's post-halftime barrage usually swings games for good. The team came into Game 3 with a 73-38 third-quarter scoring advantage across the first two games of the Finals and has spent the better part of the last decade crushing spirits in that particular period.

Twice now, though—once in Game 1 and again on Wednesday night—the Celtics staggered, refusing to fall.

Boston was still outscored by eight points in the third, but it maintained a four-point advantage (though the lead had reached 18 in the second quarter) heading into the fourth. It then held Curry to a single, exceptionally difficult field goal in the last stanza and limited the Warriors to just 11 points in all, taking a 2-1 series lead that, according to history, has a very good chance of holding up.

It shouldn't be a surprise that the Celtics—behind a stellar 17-point first quarter from Jaylen Brown, 26 points and a team-high nine assists from Jayson Tatum and a team-wide edge in overall physicality—are in this position. They always respond to setbacks, whether in individual quarters or entire games, with resilience.

What sets this Boston team apart from so many past Warriors opponents is the sheer breadth of options and adjustments at its disposal. These Celtics don't just have a mere single response to adversity—their personnel allows them to choose from several, depending on the circumstances.

In Game 1, Boston shot the lights out in a decisive fourth quarter, hitting nine of its 12 three-point attempts to stun Golden State in San Francisco. Instead of sniping from long distance, the Celtics shifted to a close-quarter, bludgeon-anything-that-moves style to secure Wednesday's win.

Five of the Celtics' eight fourth-quarter buckets came in the paint, the continuation of a game-long trend of total interior dominance.

Robert Williams III was key to the Celtics' success inside. He blocked four shots and snatched three steals while still clearly hobbled by the left knee that has forced him out of the lineup several times throughout the playoffs. Though Boston would surely prefer knowing which version of Williams it was going to get on a given night, his sporadic presence might actually make things trickier on the Warriors.

It must be jarring, strategically, to not know whether layups will be allowed or not. On Wednesday, they were not.

For the Warriors, who've spent years "solving" high-level opponents, Boston's refusal to lose (or win) the same way twice has to be confounding. As does its lack of exploitable defenders. That's been another hallmark of Golden State's run. Eventually, whether via its trademarked off-ball Cuisinart of movement or a steady diet of high pick-and-rolls exploiting a suspect defender, the Warriors have always located and attacked weak links.

It's been Boston on the attack in this series, and Curry has been the target on both ends. Steph finished with 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting, but we already noted the way Boston took him out of the game in the final period. And the Celtics had no shortage of success going at him on the other end.

For context, Curry was in early foul trouble and essentially defending with his hands behind his back (sometimes literally) all night. The Celtics wore him down on offense with nonstop bumps, shoves and grabs, as per usual. And it should also be noted that Steph's defense was a key part of the Warriors winning Game 2 on Sunday. But Boston's success in battering Curry and putting him in foul trouble was really just a reflection of its broader advantages in this matchup.

The Celtics are bigger, stronger and faster than the Warriors, and they've been the more physical team for the majority of this series. The main concern for Golden State going forward, though, is that it can't be sure which of those many advantages the Celtics will leverage next. Boston can succeed with shooting, dominance on the offensive boards, turnover generation, transition speed and, well...who even knows what else?

The Celtics have a rare combination of overwhelming physical talent and strategic malleability. They don't win in any particular way. They adjust and counter. They take what's there, sometimes with skill, sometimes by force.

Maybe that's why Boston never seems too concerned by rough stretches or lost games. There's a special kind of confidence that comes from knowing that if there's a way to turn a contest around, the Celtics have the ability to find it and execute accordingly.

Over the years, the Warriors have excelled at creating desperation in opponents. In the Celtics, they're only finding resolve.

Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson called out fans at TD Garden for their actions during the Boston Celtics' Game 3 win in the 2022 NBA Finals.

Thompson said the crowd was "not a factor" in the Celtics' 116-100 victory to take a 2-1 series lead before expanding on what he heard Wednesday night:

Warriors forward Draymond Green, who was the target of "F--k you, Draymond" chants throughout the contest, also downplayed the impact of the fans.

"They just talking," Green told reporters. "It's not really my job to react to them. So, they did what I expected."

Asked about the crowd, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr replied: "Classy. Very classy."

While Green downplayed the crowd's impact on his play, he put together one of his worst performances of the playoffs. He tallied two points, four rebounds and three assists while failing to make his usual game-changing defensive impact in 35 minutes before fouling out.

The Celtics, who dropped Game 2 in lopsided fashion after winning Game 1 on the road, bounced back by shooting 48.3 percent from the field (43 of 89) and significantly outrebounding the Dubs, 47-31.

Unlike their counterparts from Golden State, Boston's players thought the TD Garden atmosphere was a key part of the Game 3 victory, using a common word: different.

"It definitely felt different," Marcus Smart said. "It's definitely fuel for the fire for us. It gives us goosebumps to be able to say that. It took this team, this organization, 12 years since they've been back to the Finals. We look up, and we see those banners, and we see those numbers. It's something that gives us that motivation to go out there and try to be the next person up."

Al Horford added: "The energy of our fans was just contagious. I felt it going in when I did my shooting an hour-and-a-half before the game, and when I saw that, it was like, 'Yeah, it's going to be different tonight.'"

TD Garden is back in the spotlight Friday night for a critical Game 4. The C's would love to head back west with a 3-1 series lead, but they can expect more resistance from Green and Co.

The chants in Draymond's direction will likely be louder than ever as Boston tries to move one step closer to a championship.

Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka had a simple message to get his team back on track Wednesday after it allowed the Golden State Warriors to erase a double-digit deficit in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Per Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com, Udoka told the Celtics to "stop playing like assh--es" during a timeout after the team committed a series of turnovers against the Warriors.

With the series shifting to TD Garden for the first time Wednesday, the Celtics looked comfortable out of the gate in front of their home crowd. They led by as many as 18 points midway through the second quarter before going on to a 116-100 win.

As has been the case throughout the series, the Warriors went on a big run in the third quarter. The Celtics went scoreless for three minutes after Jayson Tatum's three with 6:14 left in the third gave them an 82-71 lead.

The Warriors took the lead thanks to a 12-0 run during that span, including a seven-point possession after Al Horford's Flagrant 1 foul on Stephen Curry.

Boston responded by dominating the fourth quarter, particularly on the defensive end. The Warriors were held to 11 points over the final 12 minutes. It's the second time in the series that Golden State has scored fewer than 20 points in the fourth quarter (16 in Game 1).

Tatum, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown each scored at least 24 points. They combined to go 10-of-24 from behind the arc with 19 assists. The Celtics had 12 turnovers in the game but just one in the fourth quarter.

Curry had an excellent night with 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting, but the two-time MVP didn't have help from his co-stars. Andrew Wiggins was 1-of-6 from behind the arc. Klay Thompson had 25 points, but he was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.

The Celtics will look to take a 3-1 series lead when they host the Warriors in Game 4 on Friday at 9 p.m. ET.

The Boston Celtics largely dominated the Golden State Warriors en route to a 116-100 win in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday at TD Garden.

Jaylen Brown's 27 points led the C's, including 17 in the first quarter and 22 in the first half. Jayson Tatum (26 points) and Marcus Smart (24) each poured it on as Boston led by as many as 18 and took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Boston cruised to the win for other reasons. For starters, they out-rebounded the Warriors 47-31 and 15-6 on the offensive glass.

Warriors forward Draymond Green had an off-night with two points and fouled out. Golden State also committed eight of its 16 turnovers in the fourth quarter.

However, the Brown-Tatum-Smart trio ultimately keyed this big Boston win, and NBA Twitter recognized their efforts.

Boston will host Golden State for Game 4 on Friday at 9 p.m. ET.