Basket Ball / Sports

Celtics beat Warriors 116-100, take 2-1 lead in NBA Finals

Throughout the postseason, the Boston Celtics had played their best basketball away from home.

Not anymore.

Jaylen Brown scored 27 points, Jayson Tatum added 26 and the Celtics rode the energy of a raucous TD Garden crowd to beat back another third-quarter onslaught by Golden State in a 116-100 victory Wednesday night that gave them a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.

Marcus Smart added 24 points and helped fuel a defensive effort that held the Warriors to 11 points in the fourth quarter — third-fewest in a finals game in the shot clock era.

“Game 2, they brought the heat to us,” Smart said. “For us, that left a bad taste in our mouth because what we hang our hat on is effort on the defensive end and being a physical team. It definitely woke us up a little bit.”

Tatum said the fact the Celtics didn’t hang their heads after the Warriors’ third-quarter flourish is something they didn’t always do in the regular season. “I think that’s when we are at our best when we respond to tough situations. We respond to teams going on runs and things like that,” he said. “I think we did that several times tonight.”

Boston improved to 6-4 at home, compared to 8-3 on the road this postseason. The Celtics haven’t lost two straight games since the end of March.

Stephen Curry led Golden State with 31 points and six 3-pointers. He had 15 points in a 33-25 third quarter by the Warriors but was hurt late in the fourth after Al Horford rolled into his leg on a loose ball. Curry said it was similar to a play during the regular season in which Smart dove into Curry’s legs while chasing a loose ball but “not as bad.”

“I got caught — obviously in some pain, but I’ll be all right,” Curry said. “See how it feels tomorrow and get ready for Friday.” Klay Thompson broke out of a finals slump and finished with 25 points and five 3s. But the …

Basket Ball / Sports

Chris Paul, Phoenix sink Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee in Game 1

The Phoenix Suns are three wins away from a championship after a strong Game 1 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals. The two sides were close for most of the first half before Phoenix pushed the lead as high as 20 in the third quarter. A furious Bucks comeback cut it back down to seven in the fourth quarter, but the Suns just would not be denied. They took Milwaukee’s punch and countered with several of their own, ultimately winning Game 1, 118-105.

Chris Paul led the way with yet another stellar postseason outing. He scored 32 points to lead the Suns, but Devin Booker wasn’t far behind with 27 of his own. Throw in Deandre Ayton’s 22-point, 19-rebound Finals debut and 20 combined bench points for Cameron Payne and Cameron Johnson and it was a complete team win for the Suns. Khris Middleton stood up to Phoenix’s star guards with 29 points of his own, but a still-recovering Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t quite match his typical MVP production. He scored 20 to go along with 17 rebounds in the loss, but played only 35 minutes and couldn’t be as aggressive in the paint as he usually is with 11 field goal attempts in the game.

Game 2 of the NBA Finals will be played on Thursday. A win in that game would take the Suns within two wins of the title, while a Milwaukee win would even up the series and give the Bucks home-court advantage. After the Game 1 we just watched, though, Milwaukee is going to need to make some serious adjustments to make that happen. For now, here are the biggest takeaways from Game 1.

Giannis looked decent, but not 100 percent

Physically, Giannis looked mostly like Giannis in Game 1 of the Finals. He caught a lob on the game’s opening play (though it was called off due to a foul). He overpowered Deandre Ayton in the post. If you squinted, you’d see the outline of the two-time MVP. Even in defeat, he …