(Basketball news) Boston Celtics took the lead in the NBA Final after they won 116-100 against the Golden State Warriors in game 3. For the Celtics, Jaylen Brown scored 27 points, Jayson Tatum added 26 as Marcus Smart added 24 points and helped fuel a defensive effort that held the Warriors to 11 points in the fourth quarter which was subsequently the third-fewest in a finals game in the shot clock era. For the Warriors, Stephen Curry led Golden State with 31 points and six 3-pointers. He had 15 points in a 33-25 third quarter as Klay Thompson broke out of a finals slump and finished with 25 points and five 3s. With this game Celtics have an advantage to win one more home game and take a healthy lead in the NBA Finals this year.

The Warriors' shooting couldn't save them on a night the more athletic Celtics outmuscled them for a 47-31 rebounding advantage which ultimate helped them to win the game by 16 points.The previous 39 times teams have split the first two games of the finals, the winner of Game 3 went on to win the series 82% of the time. Steph and Klay need all their finals experience to guide this relatively young Warriors to another title, at this moment Celtics have been the better team over the three games, and with one more game at the TD garden it could be too late for them to revive the series. If Warriors stand a chance at their 4 titles in the last 7 years then they need to win their next away match against the resurgent Celtics.

''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.''

''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.''

''I got caught — obviously in some pain, but I'll be alright,'' Curry said. ''See how it feels tomorrow and get ready for Friday.''

''We talked about it quite a bit, our group being resilient and being able to fight through a lot of things and at times when it's most needed being able to lock down on defense,'' Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. ''We did in the fourth quarter,'

''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,'' Kerr said.

Also read: Warriors bounce back in game 2 against the Celtics in the NBA Finals