For all the celebration of skill and smallball in recent years, the NBA still rewards size and quickness at big moments. In the first Finals game in TD Garden since 2010, the Boston Celtics used their speed, length and physical superiority to bury the Golden State Warriors in Game 3, 116-100 to take a 2-1 series lead.
The Celtics have built their championship aspirations on the strength of their top-flight defense and the explosiveness of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, their pair of talented attackers. Both the defense and their wing tandem saw mixed results in San Francisco, where the Celtics split for the first two games.