Warriors-Celtics score, takeaways: Stephen Curry, Golden State bounce back to

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.” After dropping the first game of the series in front of their home fans thanks to an abysmal fourth-quarter performance, the Warriors were well aware that they needed to bounce back quickly, and that’s exactly what they did.

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. Golden State outscored Boston 35-14 in that quarter and they never looked back. They went on to coast to a 107-88 victory, and they tied the series up at 1-1 in the process.

Stephen Curry led the way for Golden State with 29 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Jordan Poole added 17 points off of the bench. As a team, the Warriors forced 18 Boston turnovers and they scored 33 points off of those turnovers. That was a big factor in the outcome.

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. Now, the series shifts to Boston for Games 3 and 4. Here are the biggest takeaways from Game 2.

Regression is a harsh mistress

When Boston shot 21-of-45 from behind the arc in Game 1, Draymond Green was less than impressed. “They hit 21 3s and Marcus Smart, Al Horford and Derrick White combined for 15,” Green said. “Those guys are good shooters, but they combined for what…. 15-for-23 from those guys? Eh. We’ll be fine.”

Turns out, he had a point. Green had spent much of Game 1 sagging off of Horford to focus on help-defense, but in Game 2, he set a new tone on the very first possession. Green played Horford so aggressively that he forced a jump-ball. 

Boston still managed a hot 10-of-19 start from behind the arc, but finished 3-of-14 in the second half. Horford and Smart combined for 44 points in Game 1. They scored just four in Game 2. In fact, even with garbage time factored in, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown still managed to combine for more than half of Boston’s points (45 of 88). The role players that shot Boston into a Game 1 victory went ice cold in Game 2.

There’s going to be a middle ground here. Boston is better than 3-of-14 from deep and worse than 10-of-19 because every team in NBA history falls somewhere between those two extremes. But aside from White and occasionally Grant Williams, the Warriors were much more aggressive in hounding Boston’s shooters. In that sense, the number of 3-pointers Boston made hardly tells the story here. It’s the fact that the Warriors held the Celtics to 12 fewer attempts (45 vs. 33) in Game 2. The Celtics didn’t have a counter. They couldn’t reach 90 points as a result.

We’re starting to figure out who these teams really are

Rotations tend to get smaller and smaller as a playoff series progresses, and tonight was a perfect example of why. The Celtics would love to be able to play four big men. Robert Williams III is playing hurt and Al Horford just turned 36. Anything Daniel Theis could give them would be greatly appreciated. The Celtics managed to get outscored by 12…