What the Warriors are saying after dropping Game 3 of the NBA Finals in
Boston
The Boston Celtics held serve on their home court on Wednesday, beating
the Warriors 116-100 to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 08: Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins
(22), Golden State Warriors’ Nemanja Bjelica (8), Golden State Warriors’
Stephen Curry (30) and Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson (11) sit on
the bench during their game against the Boston Celtics late in the
fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston,
Mass., on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 08: Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins
(22), Golden State Warriors’ Nemanja Bjelica (8), Golden State Warriors’
Stephen Curry (30) and Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson (11) sit on
the bench during their game against the Boston Celtics late in the
fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston,
Mass., on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By ALEX SIMON | asimon@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 8, 2022 at 9:17 p.m. | UPDATED: June 9, 2022 at 4:11 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/06/08/what-the-warriors-are-saying-after-dropping-game-3-of-the-nba-finals-in-boston/

It looked like it could be a classic Warriors third quarter leading them
to a stunning win in Game 3. Instead, another Celtics fourth quarter
response put the game away and sent Golden State back down in the series.

Boston held serve on its home court on Wednesday, beating the Warriors
116-100 to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.

Golden State got big shooting performances from its Splash Brothers,
with Steph Curry scoring 31 points despite playing most of the game with
foul trouble. Klay Thompson also burst out of his shooting slump with a
25-point effort.

But the Warriors were torn apart inside by the Celtics’ size, with
Boston winning the rebounding effort 47-31 and doubling the Warriors’
output on points in the paint (52-26) and second chance points (22-11).
Golden State will surely need a better effort from Draymond Green, who
had as many points as he had turnovers (two) and had more fouls (six)
than rebounds (four).

Fortunately — or unfortunately? — the gap between Game 3 and Game 4 is
the only one-day break between games during this NBA Finals, so the
Warriors will only have one day to stew on the loss.

Here’s what the Warriors had to say after Game 3:

>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 08: Golden State Warriors head coach
Steve Kerr coaches the game against the Boston Celtics in the first
quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on
Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

STEVE KERR

On Curry’s possible injury:

I took him out with two minutes left because we were down by 14 points …
The injury didn’t force him out of the game, but I took him out down 14
with two minutes left because we weren’t going to catch up … We will
know more tomorrow.

On energy levels/50-50 balls:

Yeah, I thought the offensive rebounds were just a killer, yeah. I think
they had like 20-something second-chance points. That was really the
difference in the game. We made several stops, especially in the second
half where we had a chance to cut into the lead or make a little push,
and they got offensive boards. Those were tough.

On Boston crowd’s chants to Green:

Classy. Very classy.

On Boston’s fourth quarter response to Warriors’ third quarter blitz:

They did a great job pressuring us. We went back to Steph to start the
fourth. We gave him the last three minutes or so of the third because we
knew we were going to have to score to start that fourth quarter. Just
couldn’t get anything to go. We had a couple turnovers and a couple
shots that didn’t go down, and obviously they took advantage.

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>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 08: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green
(23) passes the ball against Boston Celtics’ Marcus Smart (36) in the
first quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Mass.,
on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

DRAYMOND GREEN

On how he felt he played:

Like [expletive].

On rebounding issues:

I think that’s just a force thing. Then once you get comfortable, you
establish that presence, then the ball just kind of finds you. You start
to get the bounces and the break. Just got to start the game off better.

On issues inside the paint:

I think when you’re putting constant pressure on the rim, then the
rebound patterns are messed up, you’re rotating, you’re coming in. So
goes back to our point of attack defense and you know, that starts with
me. If we control the point of attack, it puts you in a better position
overall on the court. And so then like I said, you allow them to get a
few, then you just start to get the bounces and things starting to go
your way. I think it’s not just rebound-specific. It’s our defense as a
whole, and when your defense as a whole is good, you know, then it makes
it a lot easier to rebound.

On exchange with referee after sixth foul:

just asked him, he called a foul for me diving on the floor. He said I
dove on somebody. Stephen got his legs dove on. I just asked, is that
not the same thing? He told me it wasn’t the same thing. So, yeah, that
was that.

On what worked in third quarter:

I thought we got them moving. We got them scattered. Defensively we were
swarming. We were all over the place, and we took away what they were
trying to do. Why we didn’t sustain it, I don’t know. I have to go back
and watch the film and see where we let go of the rope at. I’m sure
there are some things we’ll look back at and take away from it and make
sure we bring it to Friday’s game.

>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 08: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry
(30) lies in pain after Boston Celtics’ Al Horford (42) landed on his
left leg in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden
in Boston, Mass., on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News
Group)

STEPH CURRY

On how he’s feeling:

I’ll be all right. I got caught — obviously in some pain, but I’ll be
all right. See how it feels tomorrow and get ready for Friday … Same
thing I did in Denver — or against Boston in the regular season, but
I’ll be — not as bad.

So foot strain?

That’s what it felt like, and we’ll see how it responds. Not much other
to say. I don’t feel like I’ll miss a game. Take advantage of these next
48 hours to get ready.

On what changed from the third to the fourth:

They had some unforced turnovers the first couple possessions of the
fourth, and that obviously led to them getting some easy buckets,
extending the lead a little bit. We settled down a little bit after that
and got some good shots. They tried to send a little more attention to
our pick-and-rolls. I think we could slow down just a little bit and try
to find the right matchups. But that first two or three minutes kind of
set the tone for the rest of the fourth and gave them a little bit of a
cushion. We had a hard time responding after that. So between the first
three minutes of the fourth and the first 12 minutes of the game, that
was pretty much it.

>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 08: Boston Celtics’ Marcus Smart (36)
checks on Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) after a play in the
fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston,
Mass., on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
On the level of physicality only getting one free throw attempt:

It felt the same. Their personnel and the way that they defend, they are
very physical. They have a way of, obviously with Marcus [Smart] on the
ball, he’s pretty aggressive, and Robert [Williams] behind the play,
they usually have lot of length and size on the wings. I don’t know why
there’s only one free throw. Felt like there’s a couple possessions or
plays that could have gone my way. It is hard to understand the flow of
the game based on some of the calls that went my way where I have four
and you’re having to defend a certain way because you want to stay on
the floor and not allow that to impact the game. But you know, you’ve
still got to find a way to be effective no matter how the game’s being
called, and it’s a good lesson to learn for the next game.

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