• Complete coverage: 2022 NBA Finals

Behind a combined 77 points from Jaylen Brown (27), Jayson Tatum (26) and Marcus Smart (24), the Celtics were able to withstand a game-high 31 points from Stephen Curry and another third-quarter blitz from Golden State to take a 2-1 series lead in front of their home fans at TD Garden.

Let’s take a deep dive into all aspects of the box score:

Traditional

• Jaylen Brown scored 17 of his team-high 27 points in the first quarter as Boston won the opening 12 minutes for the first time in this series (33-22).

• Jayson Tatum finished with 26 points and a game-high nine assists. Boston improved to 7-0 this postseason when Tatum dishes out at least seven assists in a game.

• Robert Williams III has finished with eight points and four blocked shots in each of Boston’s two wins in this series.

• Stephen Curry scored a game-high 31 points while shooting 6-of-11 (54.5%) on both 2-point shots and 3-point shots.

• After scoring a total of 26 points and making four 3-pointers in the first two games of the Finals combined, Klay Thompson scored 25 points and made five 3-pointers in Game 3. He was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.

• Otto Porter Jr. was the only Warriors player to finish with a positive plus/minus at plus-four in 21 minutes off the bench; while Derrick White was the only Celtics player with a negative plus/minus at minus-12 in 24 minutes off the bench.

• Draymond Green finished with more fouls (6) than he did combined points (2) and assists (3) over 35 minutes.

• Golden State continued its dominance of the third quarter, winning the period 33-25 to increase its margin over the series to plus-43. However, Boston won every other quarter in Game 3 and leads every other quarter over the series: first quarter (+6), second quarter (+6) and fourth quarter (+40).

• The Warriors finished with more field-goal attempts in each of the first two games: plus-3 in Game 1 (88-85) and plus-6 in Game 2 (86-80). The Celtics turned the tables in Game 3 and finished with 11 more shot attempts than the Warriors, 89-78, thanks in large part to their advantage in both offensive rebounds (15-6) and turnovers (12-16).

• Entering Game 3, the Celtics were 6-0 in the postseason following a loss, winning those six games by an average of 15.5 points. Game 3 followed suit as they picked up a 16-point win to improve to 7-0 following a loss in this year’s playoffs.

Advanced

• Of the seven Celtics that played at least 10 minutes, Boston had its best defensive rating with Robert Williams III (100.0 in 26 minutes), Grant Williams (100.0) and Marcus Smart (102.5 in 39 minutes) on the court. In the 10 minutes they shared the court, Boston’s defensive rating was 75.0.

• Jayson Tatum finished with nine assists against just two turnovers; his 4.5 assist-to-turnover ratio led all players and was Tatum’s second-best mark of the postseason, trailing only Game 1 of the Finals (6.5 ratio, 13 assists, 2 turnovers).

• Boston finished with a 47-31 advantage on the boards in Game 3 with Robert Williams III posting a game-high 20.4 rebound percentage.

• Through three games, Boston has won the two games played at the slowest pace – 93.50 in Game 1, 94.50 in Game 3 – while Golden State’s Game 2 win came at the fast pace at 97.50.

Miscellaneous

• As John Schuhmann breaks down in The Finals Stat for Game 3, the Celtics doubled up the Warriors in points in the paint, 52-26. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart all scored 10 points in the paint for the Celtics, compared to just Andrew Wiggins in double-figures for the Warriors.

• The Celtics also doubled up the Warriors in second-chance points, 22-11. Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams led Boston with five second-chance points apiece, while Klay Thompson led all players with six points – accounting for more than half of Golden State’s total.

• The Warriors finished with an 18-4 advantage in fast-break points in Game 3, with Andrew Wiggins (six points) and Stephen Curry (five points) each outscoring the Celtics on their own.

• After Golden State dominated points off turnovers in their Game 2 win (33-15), the Celtics kept the margin to two points in Game 3 as Golden State finished with a 19-17 advantage. Jaylen Brown led all players with 11 points off turnovers, while the Warriors were led by Andrew Wiggins and Steph Curry with six points apiece.

Scoring

Jaylen Brown (25 years, 227 days) and Jayson Tatum (24 years, 97 days) are the first pair of Celtics teammates in franchise history to each record 25+ points in a #NBAFinals game at age 25 or younger. pic.twitter.com/dCgsHakTqa

— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) June 9, 2022

• Boston assisted on 65.1% of its made field goals, compared to 61.1% for the Warriors. Entering the Finals, the Warriors led all playoff teams with a 66.9% assist rate, followed by the Celtics in second at 65.5%. Through three games, Boston’s assist percentage has climbed to 73.3%, while Golden State’s has dropped to 62.3%.

• Golden State attempted more than half of their shots from 3-point range in Game 3 (51.3%), a similar number to their Game 1 loss (51.1%). In their Game 2 win, the Warriors attempted only 43% of their shots from 3-point range.

• Boston scored 44.8% of its points in the paint, which is 16.5 percentage points higher than any other game in the series.

• For three straight games, Otto Porter Jr. has shot nothing but 3-point shots for the Warriors off the bench. He is shooting 7-of-9 in the series.

Usage

• Stephen Curry posted the game-high usage rate for the third straight game of the Finals at 31.2%, while Jayson Tatum led the Celtics at 29.3% usage in Game 3.

• Curry accounted for 38.8% of Golden State’s points while he was on the court, leading all players. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics at 28.1% of points scored while on the court.

• Tatum accounted for a quarter of Boston’s points (25%) and more than a third of Boston’s assists (37.5%) in his game-high 41 minutes on the court. After dishing out a career-high 13 assists in Game 1 when he struggled with his shot, and then scoring a team-high 28 points in Game 2, Tatum was able to find a great balance between playmaking and scoring in Game 3.

Jayson Tatum continues to evolve as a playmaker.

• Jaylen Brown posted his highest-scoring game of the Finals (a team-high 27 points) while posting his lowest usage rate of the series (22.1%). He had his most efficient game of the series, shooting 9-of-16 from the field, making half of his eight 3-point attempts and making all but one of his six free throws.

Four Factors

• Effective field goal percentage was the only one of the four factors that was not dominated by Boston in Game 3. The Warriors finished with a slight edge in shooting (55.8% to 55.6%) after the winning team in the first two games finished with a decisive advantage.

• The Celtics took much better care of the ball in Game 3, particularly in the second half as only four of their 12 turnovers came after halftime. Boston’s 12.6% turnover rate was its lowest of the Finals, while Golden State’s 18.1% turnover rate was its highest of the Finals.

• The Celtics doubled the Warriors in second-chance points and nearly tripled them in offensive rebounds (15-6) in Game 3. Boston’s 40.8 offensive rebound rate was fueled by Grant Williams (13.0%), Robert Williams III (12.5%) and Al Horford (10.3%). Kevon Looney was the only Warrior with a double-digit offensive rebound rate as he finished with a game-high 15.8% and collected half of Golden State’s six offensive boards.

• Boston finished with nine additional free throw attempts than Golden State. However, they only finished with four more points at the free-throw line as the Celtics shot just 17-24 (70.8%) – their second-lowest free throw percentage of this year’s playoffs.

Player Tracking

• We mentioned Boston’s edge in assist percentage, which can be tied directly to their advantage in passes made (300-256) in Game 3. Marcus Smart (65) and Jayson Tatum (53) made more passes than any player on the Warriors; Draymond Green led Golden State with 52 before fouling out.

• Boston and Golden State each made 23 uncontested field goals in Game 3, although the Warriors had four more uncontested attempts (51-47). A key for Boston was their ability to make contested shots as they made 20 in 42 attempts compared to 13 in 27 attempts for Golden State.

• Jaylen Brown shot 6-of-8 (75%) on uncontested shots compared to 3-of-8 (37.5%) when contested. Jayson Tatum went 38.5% when open and 40% when contested.

• Stephen Curry made the same number of contested (6-of-12) and uncontested (6-10) shots in Game 3. It was a different story for Klay Thompson, as all seven of his field goals made were uncontested (7-13) while he shot 0-4 when contested.

• Andrew Wiggins led all players with 14 uncontested field goal attempts in Game 3, making six (42.9%). For the series, Wiggins is shooting 12-30 (40%) on uncontested shots.

• Jaylen Brown (2.78 miles) and Klay Thompson (2.77 miles) led their respective teams in distance traveled in Game 3 despite neither leading their team in minutes played.

Hustle

• Kevon Looney had as many screen assists (six that produced 16 Warriors points) as the entire Celtics team (six that produced 13 points) in Game 3.

• Golden State finished with an advantage of four in deflections (13-9), but the teams finished even in steals (7-7). One reason for that is the fact that Boston finished with five offensive loose balls recovered compared to just one for Golden State.

• Both teams drew two charges in Game 3 – Stephen Curry drew both for Golden State, while Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each had one for Boston.

• We mentioned Boston’s dominance on the glass in Game 3, they also had a huge advantage in box outs at 8-1.

Defense

• Andrew Wiggins defended more shots than any other player in Game 3 as he held his matchups to 7-of-24 (29.2%) shooting from the field and 2-of-7 (28.6%) from 3-point range. His matchups dished out eight assists compared to three turnovers, while Wiggins finished with two steals and two blocks.

• Stephen Curry was battling foul trouble throughout the game and it clearly affected his defense as he allowed his matchups to shoot 10-of-16 (62.5%) against him in Game 3. That comes after Curry had held his matchups to a combined 9-of-25 (36%) shooting in the first two games of the Finals.

• Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown were both outstanding defensively in Game 3. Smart held his matchups to 3-of-14 (21.4%) shooting, including just 1-of-7 (14.3%) from 3-point range. Brown allowed 4-of-15 (26.7%) shooting from the field and just 1-of-8 (12.5%) from 3-point range.

Matchups

• Jayson Tatum scored just nine points on 3-of-15 shooting when defended by either Andrew Wiggins (8:47 of matchup time) or Klay Thompson (4:11) in Game 3. Tatum had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting when defended either by Stephen Curry (1:39) or Jordan Poole (57 seconds).

• Marcus Smart held Stephen Curry scoreless in 4:57 of matchup time in Game 3 as Curry missed all four of his shot attempts, including one 3-pointer, and committed two turnovers while defended by Smart.

• Curry’s next two most frequent defenders – Derrick White (3:39) and Jayson Tatum (2:02) – did not have similar success in stifling Curry as he scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Curry also took advantage of Boston’s bigs, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting (3-of-4 from 3) against Al Horford, and four points on 2-of-4 shooting in just 33 seconds against Robert Williams III.

• A similar pattern is found when looking at Jaylen Brown’s matchups as his primary defender (Draymond Green at 5:17 of matchup time) was able to keep Brown in check with five points scored on 2-of-6 shooting and 0-of-3 from deep. But when Brown found other matchups, he found success. Brown scored five points on 2-of-2 shooting in 4:03 against Klay Thompson and scored seven points on 2-of-3 shooting in just 1:39 against Gary Payton II.

• The pattern holds for Klay Thompson’s offense as he was held to just five points on 2-of-8 shooting (including 1-of-6 from 3-point range) in 8:06 of matchup time against Jaylen Brown. For reference, that is 20% of Klay’s 25 points coming from 58.3% of his offensive matchup time. Klay hit more shots in 22 seconds of matchup time with Robert Williams III than he did any of his primary defenders in Game 3.

• While Smart held Curry scoreless on defense, Curry allowed Smart to score 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, 1-of-1 from deep and 3-of-3 at the free-throw line in 6:02 of matchup time. Andrew Wiggins had much more success defending Smart, holding him to two points on 1-of-5 shooting.