NBA Finals 2022: Draymond Green, Warriors flip the script by locking up Celtics in Game 2

With about four-and-a-half minutes left in the third quarter on Sunday, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum swished an open 3 to cut their deficit to six points.

It was a clean look off of a simple pick-and-roll, surrendered because the Golden State Warriors messed up their defensive coverage.

As soon as it went in, the broadcast cut to Warriors coach Steve Kerr telling Andrew Wiggins that he was supposed to be higher up:

You don't just let Tatum walk into open 3s. That play, however, was an anomaly. It represented just about the only easy points that Boston scored during the third quarter.

It also represented the last meaningful field goal that Boston made. The Warriors went on a 25-2 run immediately afterward. When the Celtics pulled their starters with 10:45 left in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, they had scored 82.1 points per 100 possessions.

Their offense looked nowhere near as smooth as it did when they were dominating down the stretch of Thursday's opener.

Al Horford, who on Thursday scored 26 points on 9-for-12 shooting, including 6-for-8 from 3-point range, managed just two points and didn't attempt a single 3-pointer. 

Marcus Smart scored two points, turned the ball over five times and missed all three of his 3-point attempts. Tatum scored 28 points on 8-for-19 shooting, bouncing back from a rough shooting night, but his assist total dropped from 13 to three

"It's hard to get an open shot out there, and it's supposed to be difficult," Kerr said Golden State evened the series with a 107-88 win. "Game 1 was too easy for Boston with the looks they were getting in that fourth quarter."

On the first possession, Draymond Green tied up Al Horford behind the 3-point line, forcing a jump ball. On the Warriors' next defensive possession, Klay Thompson picked up Horford and Green took Jaylen Brown, a configuration that they used for much of the game.

Green downplayed the matchups, though, and all the disruption that he caused individually, saying that they collectively made an "attitude adjustment."