Stephen Curry scored 29 points, Jordan Poole connected from just inside midcourt to cap a huge run in the third quarter and that Warriors of the Golden State defeat Boston Celtics 107-88 on Sunday evenings in game 2 even the NBA Final.
Poole finished the tournament with 17 points for the Warriors, who beat Boston 35-14 in the third quarter and turned a two-point halftime lead into a 23-point lead. And then, as the Warriors scored the first six points of the fourth, the Celtics waved the surrender flag and emptied their bench.
Golden State also got 12 from Kevon Looney in the 6-for-6 shootout and 11 each from Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson.
Jayson Tatum scored 21 of his 28 points in the first half for Boston. Jaylen Brown added 17 for the Celtics but struggled through a 5-for-17 shooting night, and Derrick White scored 12.
Just like Game 1, a huge run decided everything. The Celtics went on a 48-18 run in the second half to decide the opener; The Warriors didn’t wait that long in Game 2, going on a 43-14 burst late in the first half through early in the fourth quarter to turn a tie into an outright breakaway.
Game 3 is in Boston on Wednesday.
Curry had 14 of his points in the third and made three of his five 3-pointers in the fourth. Boston was 4-for-15 in the quarter, was outplayed 21-6 on 3s, and let the Warriors turn five turnovers into 11 points.
Poole provided the exclamation point late in the third quarter, taking a pass in the final seconds, dribbles down the midfield strip, creates a little space and lets go.
hiss
Curry greeted him with a smile and a hug, fans at the Chase Center jumped to their feet — if they weren’t already on them — and the outcome was decided pretty much right there.
And for the first time, the crowd at the Warriors’ new building saw that the Celtics were finally losing. Boston went 4-0 to the three-year-old home of the Warriors, the only team to win their first four games at the arena.
The Celtics were looking to join just two other teams — the 1993 Chicago Bulls and the 1995 Houston Rockets — on the list of clubs that won two away games to open the Finals. Those Bulls and Rockets won the championship, and 31 of the previous 36 teams that went 2-0 up ended up celebrating a title.
All is not lost for Boston, of course. The Celtics need only win their remaining home games to win the title, although that will not be an easy feat against a Warriors team that has won at least one away game in an NBA-record 26 straight playoff series.
Associated Press coverage.
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