BSJ NBA Finals Game 2 Report: Warriors 107, Celtics 88 - Turnovers, 3rd quarter blitz, costs C's

SAN FRANCISCO -- Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics started out well, taking a nine-point lead in the first quarter and seemingly sending a message that all this talk about Warriors' haymakers was misguided. But they started to turn the ball over later in the quarter and were actually down after the first. They also lost the second quarter by a point, but their turnovers and fouls made it seem they could make a run if they cleaned things up. Then the Warriors went on their usual third-quarter blitzkrieg, led by Steph Curry’s 14 points, to outscore Boston 35-14 and take complete control of the game. The fourth quarter didn’t matter.

HEADLINES

Turnovers, turnover, turnovers: Through the first three quarters, Boston turned it over 16 times for 29 Warriors points. Golden State turned it over 8 times for 8 points. That's why Boston was down 23 heading into the fourth quarter.

I’ll repeat it every single night: The winner in the points off turnover battle wins the game. Boston won that handily in Game 1, they got crushed by it in Game 2. 

Draymond Green, the irritant: From the Warriors' perspective, he was his absolute best self, frustrating the Celtics and drawing them into some jawing back and forth while playing great defense. From the Celtics' perspective, the irritant crossed into murky uncalled foul territory. Either way, he was impactful.

Well, maybe not if you ask Al Horford.

But Jaylen Brown was more forthcoming. 

"That's what Draymond Green does," Brown said. "He'll do whatever it takes to win. He'll pull you, he'll grab you, he'll try to muck the game up because that's what he does for their team. It's nothing to be surprised about. Nothing I'm surprised about. He raised his physicality to try to stop us and we've got to raise ours. Looking forward to the challenge."

It'll be a challenge in Game 3, for sure. They can't allow him to be this level of an irritant again. 

Oh that third quarter: The Celtics talked about it at length in their Saturday media availabilities, but it didn’t matter at all. The Celtics have had their problems in third quarters for a while now, and the Warriors come out of the locker room looking like they drank Michael Jordan’s secret stuff. Boston scored 14 points on 4-17 shooting while the Warriors poured in 35 on 11-23 shooting. The Celtics turned it over 5 times for 11 Warriors points in the third alone. 

TURNING POINT

It was almost a two-part, delayed turning point. 

The Celtics went scoreless for two minutes in the third and without a field goal for more than three. The game went from 52-52 to 68-56, which certainly turned the game around. But then the quarter ended with the knockout blow. 

Still a 6-point game somehow, the Warriors put any thoughts of another fourth quarter comeback to bed by outscoring Boston 19-2 over the final 4:17. A Jordan Poole 39-foot pull-up was the dagger. That was just an outrageous shot. 

ZERO UP

No one on the floor had what I’d call a good game. I’ll give all the garbage time guys some love for coming in and playing hard and being able to say they scored in the NBA Finals.

SIX DOWN 

Jayson Tatum: He played a better game when his shot wasn’t falling. He scored 28 points in this game, but all four of his turnovers were live-ball steals, two of which ended with Steph Curry 3-pointers. He finished with 28 points but just 3 assists. The Celtics just need to move the ball more. 

Jaylen Brown: He was on fire to start the game, shooting 4-6 in the first quarter, dropping 13 points with zero turnovers. He was 1-11 the rest of the way, scoring 4 points with 2 turnovers. I’ll cut him some slack on the second one. Robert Williams put him in a bad spot giving him the ball on the sideline, pinning him into a turnover.

That's just bad basketball all around, but man it put Jaylen in a tough spot. That's forcing a play when it’s not really the right thing to do. 

Marcus Smart: A rough overall game from Smart. Shot wasn’t falling, passes weren’t great, flops weren’t working, and five turnovers, three of them live-ball steals. 

Al Horford: Uncharacteristically bad night from Horford. He didn’t even get an attempt from deep. The Warriors switched up their defense and had Klay Thompson on Horford and that took away a lot of what Horford had been able to do. 

Derrick White: He started out well, too, but then it all fell apart along with the rest of the group. He was 2-3 from 3 in the second quarter but 0-1 the rest of the game. It’s not that I’m looking for him to be a big shooter, it just speaks to how little he was able to do aside from that one stretch.

Grant Williams: He’s not playing well right now. This defensive possession early in the game is an absolute mystery to me. What’s he trying to do? 

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- This will be an interesting film session

The Warriors flipped a few defensive assignments and it definitely rattled the C’s into some turnovers. Green took Brown in the crayola matchup and Brown started coloring outside the lines after a hot start. Thompson took Horford and the airspace went away. 

The Celtics responded poorly. 

“I don't think we got as much penetration to the paint,” Ime Udoka said. “They switched a few more things, then turned the ball over and didn't give ourselves a chance with a lot of those turnovers.”

We’ll see what adjustments they come up with. There has to be a new wrinkle in there to negate the matchup issues and switches that gets guys into the paint a little more easily. 

- First team to figure out how to pull out of the turnover spiral wins a championship. 

“It's just kind of as simple as we've just got to take care of the ball,” Tatum said.”We've done it, and we're a really good team when we take care of the ball. But we have those lapses where we, snowball effect, we pile on turnovers and dig ourselves into a hole.”

The Celtics gave up 33 points off turnovers, which is disgusting. This feels like an all-or-nothing proposition with the Celtics. They barely turned the ball over in Game 1, then they turned into Wile E. Coyote playing with ACME basketballs in Game 2. 

“In our wins, we didn't turn it over; in our losses, we turned it over excessively,” Horford acknowledged. “I know we can prevent a lot of those, and in order for us to be in a better chance of winning, we have to cut those down.”

But how? 

I don't know the answer. I don’t have a suggestion that hasn’t been made. Stop doing the same exact things over and over in these games. Don’t get caught too deep without an outlet. Don’t pass the ball DIRECTLY to the other team. 

And someone, somehow, find a way to actually stop this when it’s happening and get the guys settled. 

It starts with Udoka needing to have a few pet plays he can go to in these spots. Then it’s on Smart to be the calming force, not the cup of kerosene. I did see him out there trying to calm guys down, but the momentum was too strong to avoid everyone being caught up in it.

Enough is enough. Figure this out, or get ready to watch the Warriors parade.