SAN FRANCISCO (Fwrd Axis) — The Golden State Warriors have been in the NBA Finals before and they reminded everyone how dangerous they can be.
The Warriors used their signature third quarter surge to build a 29-point lead as they earned a 107-88 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the NBA Finals at the Chase Center on Sunday night.
Stephen Curry went supernova as he scored 29 points and Jordan Poole capped off a big night with a three-pointer from just inside of midcourt to end the third quarter as coach Steve Kerr opted to play his bench for much of the final 12 minutes. Poole finished with 17 points.
“I thought everybody was more engaged,” Kerr said. “It’s pretty obvious. Just our level of force and physicality was ramped up quite a bit, and it had to be.”
Golden State outscored 35-14 in the third quarter as Poole’s three to end the period capped off a 19-2 run from the Warriors that put the game out of reach.
“We said we needed to play with desperation,” Curry said. “That’s what we did.”
What makes the win even more mind-boggling for the Warriors is they got the victory even with subpar nights from Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins, who combined for 22 points on 8-of-31 shooting.
Meanwhile, Jayson Tatum bounced back from his stinker in Game 1, scoring 21 of his 28 points in the first half. Jaylen Brown added 17 for the Celtics, but anyone not named Tatum or Brown just couldn’t seem to connect with the basket.
Al Horford, Derrick White, and Marcus Smart combined for 16 points on 6-for-23 shooting. Celtics coach Ime Udoka picked up a technical after growing frustrated with officials for the lack of calls for his guys.
“I just let them know how I felt throughout the game in a demonstrative way, on purpose, to get a technical,” Udoka said.
Boston gave up 33 points off 19 turnovers, making it hard to win any game, no matter the time of year.
“We have to take better care of the ball,” Tatum said.
“It is what it is,” said Horford. “On to Game 3.”
