Celtics look to stay focused and bounce back against Warriors in Game 3 homecoming

BOSTON (WLNE) — The NBA Finals will be making their return to TD Garden Wednesday night for the first time since 2010.

The Boston Celtics will be looking to make their return to the win column against the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 after a blowout 107-88 loss on Sunday night.

If Boston wants to regain the series lead, they’ll have to learn from the mistakes that they made in Game 2.

Whether it was the excess in turnovers, the sloppy third quarter, or the way that the team seemed to get shaken up by Golden State’s physicality, the problems all stemmed back to the team’s lack of focus.

“The main thing, for us, is to stay composed,” said Head Coach Ime Udoka, when asked about Game 2’s uptick in physicality.

It seemed like Udoka’s team got punched in the mouth by the Warriors, more specifically Draymond Green in Sunday’s loss.

Green set the tone right from the tip off, when he forced a tie up with Al Horford. He continued to poke and prod at the Celtics throughout the game, seemingly getting under the skin of the entire team.

The Michigan State alumni was able to bait Celtics Star, Jayson Tatum, into a foul late in the first quarter.

“You got to understand what certain people are trying to do, take you off your game,” said Tatum.

Celtics fans all over Twitter were unhappy with the way the game was called allowing Green to be physical.

Tatum seemed to agree with the fans, saying that the C’s “didn’t get the benefit of the doubt,” when trying to match the physicality.

“I just let them know how I felt about the whole of the game. Demonstratively. On purpose,” said Udoka, who picked up a technical foul in the third quarter.

Looking ahead to Wednesday’s Game 3, Boston will have to deal with that physicality, whether they feel that they’re being allowed to match it or not.

Allowing the way the game was called get under their skin caused the C’s to lose control of a game that they were in.

They saw things get out of hand in the third quarter, where they were outscored by Golden State 35-14.  Boston made just four of the 17 shots that they took in the period while trying to weather an offensive storm from Golden State.

All of the things that they’d done well through the first six quarters of the series went out the window when the team lost focus. The ball stopped moving and the offense became rushed.

The Warriors have dominated both third quarters so far in the Finals, outscoring the Celtics by a total of 35 points. Boston has struggled in third quarters throughout the playoffs, being outscored by an average of two points each time. Golden State on the other hand, outscores opponents by an average of two points during third quarters.

“We’ve talked about it pretty much the whole postseason. It’s easy to talk about it but we have to go out there and change something,” said Derrick White.

Third quarter play has been a difference maker for this team so far in the playoffs. In wins, they outscore opponents by and average of two points, but in losses, they’re outscored by an average of nine.

Another glaring issue Boston has seen throughout the playoffs has been their amount of turnovers. It’s been the difference in wins and losses so far. The C’s have turned the ball over an average of just 13 times in wins, but nearly 17 times in each loss.

The Warriors have taken advantage of the free possessions the Celtics have given them so far in the Finals, scoring 43 points off of 32 Boston turnovers.

“When we don’t turn the ball over, we give ourselves a better chance to win. That’s not rocket science,” said Tatum.

The Celtics will certainly look to be more careful with the ball in Game 3.

Celtics fans who don’t want to pay the steep prices to see Wednesday’s game in person, can watch it live at 9 p.m. on ABC 6.