Warriors vs Celtics

What the Golden State Warriors did against the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night was the definition of "response.

The Warriors scored 33 points off of turnovers in Game 2, 18 more than the Celtics. They won the game by 19 points. Klay Thompson shot 4-of-19 from the field in Game 2. Their championship hopes rely on the best version of him showing up more often than the worst, but on a night-to-night basis, the Warriors don't seem to know which one they're going to get. Andrew Wiggins has had a slow start to the Finals. Right now, Curry is generating almost everything on offense for Golden State. Thompson isn't exactly a high-usage ball-handler, but the offense runs much more smoothly when the Warriors can at least rely on him to make open shots and generate some of his own looks inside of the arc. Not coincidentally, the Celtics committed 18 turnovers in Game 2, five more than they did in Game 1. Thompson shot below 40 percent from the field in 15 of his 32 regular-season games. The problem with extended Payton minutes is that Boston has little interest in guarding him on the perimeter. The moment he decided to try to play drop-coverage against Stephen Curry should have been the moment Ime Udoka decided to banish him for the rest of the series. The Celtics managed to get outscored by 12 points in the seven competitive minutes he played in this game. The game was extremely close through the first 24 minutes, but in the third quarter, the Warriors kicked it up a notch and gained some serious separation. Horford and Smart combined for 44 points in Game 1. Jayson Tatum paced the Celtics with 28 points and six rebounds, but his production wasn't enough as only two other Celtics players scored in double figures.

Boston Celtics vs Golden State Warriors Jun 5, 2022 including live play-by-play and highlights.

Jordan made 13 consecutive shots in that game, the last of those the iconic change-hands-in-mid-air layup in the fourth quarter. That's the most in a single playoff year ever, topping the 90 such quarters in the 2017 playoffs. But the knee swelled up Saturday and he sat for the 13th time in the Warriors' last 14 games. Celtics: The Celtics fell to 8-3 on the road in these playoffs. They remain tied for the second-most road wins in a single postseason; the record is nine, set by Houston in 1995. 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. Boston entered the night 4-0 in the Warriors' 3-year-old home, the only team to have won its first four games in the arena. Boston was 4 for 15 in the quarter, got outscored 21-6 on 3s and let the Warriors turn five turnovers into 11 points. 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. Stephen Curry scored 29 points, Jordan Poole connected from just inside of midcourt to cap the pivotal period and the Warriors beat the Boston Celtics 107-88 on Sunday night in Game 2. The Warriors didn't wait that long in Game 2, going on a 43-14 burst from late in the first half until early in the fourth quarter to turn a tie game into an absolute runaway. ''I thought everybody was more engaged,'' Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after his team improved to 5-0 after a loss in these playoffs.