Keys for the Celtics to take a commanding lead in NBA Finals with a Game 4 win

BOSTON -- The Celtics need to go out and play their best game of the season on Friday night.

Even with a 2-1 lead over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, there is little room for error for the Celtics. There is a massive difference between going back to San Francisco with a commanding 3-1 lead and a chance to clinch a title, and the series heading out west with the series tied 2-2. All that luster from Game 3 will be lost if the Celtics lose Friday night.

Aside from another rough third quarter, the Celtics played close to perfect on Wednesday night. They have the road map to victory; they just need to follow it. 

"You try to simplify it. The main thing with us is, as I mentioned, having a carryover from game to game and do the things that make us successful," Ime Udoka said Thursday. "To see us come out very purposeful and deliver it [in Game 3] on how we were trying to attack them, getting to our spacing quicker and playing with pace quicker so they have to guard longer in the shot clock, those things all stand out. I think it was one of our best games overall as far as that, attacking the areas we really wanted to. Mixing in on ball, off ball and some of the things Golden State is going to do to try to take advantage of that. Have to do it again now."

With these Celtics, the biggest question isn't can they do it again. They're capable of anything. The question is will they do it again? Any time they have a chance to take the easy route, they opt for the more difficult one. With an NBA title on the line, there is no need to risk making things more difficult than they need to be.

Here are some keys to another W on Friday night, which would inch these Celtics closer to the promised land.

Tatum's Night?

Jayson Tatum has been pretty great in the Finals. But not really great. Not the level of great that we know that he can reach.

Maybe tonight is the night where Tatum has his signature scoring moment in the series. He put together a solid Game 3 with 26 points, nine assists and six rebounds, but he was a very inefficient 9-for-23 from the floor. His evening would have been a lot better -- and the win a lot easier for Boston -- had he not missed four shots around the rim. He is leaving a lot of bunnies out there this postseason, which is a reason his shooting percentage is so low.

Over the first three games, Tatum is 20-for-59 from the floor. Finishing a few more of those drives at the rim, perhaps by throwing them down rather than going for a finesse layup, would have his percentage a tick higher than 33 percent.

And though he only had two turnovers on Wednesday, Tatum is inching closer to setting the new record for turnovers in the postseason. With eight giveaways in the Finals, Tatum is up to 85 for the postseason. He is just nine behind the record for most turnovers in a postseason, set by LeBron James in 2018.

Despite all of that, the Celtics are still winning because Jaylen Brown has been a fantastic finisher around the rim and the Boston defense continues to play like a bunch of junkyard dogs. And Tatum has been an incredible facilitator, quarterbacking the Celtics offense.

Tatum has still been an important piece of the victories with the spacing that he creates and with his passing, but life would be a lot easier for the Celtics if their superstar player puts together his signature scoring moment in the NBA Finals on Friday night.

Limiting Mistakes 

Speaking of turnovers, the equation is simple for Boston. If the Celtics take care of the basketball, they win. If the Celtics commit a ton of turnovers, they lose. 

They lost Game 2 after committing 15 live-ball turnovers. Their 19 miscues overall turned into 33 Warriors points and they got blown out.

In Game 3, the Celtics limited their mistakes to just seven live-ball turnovers and they won convincingly. 

It's so simple.

"My key is how we're moving the ball and keeping it simple and not over-penetrating, looking for others," said Udoka. "It kind of has a domino effect from there, if we're going to have a night where we're going to somewhat struggle or be on point like we were [Wednesday] night."

The Celtics are still going to turn the ball over. Considering how much they pass and the chances they occasionally take, it's going to happen. But limiting those mistakes, and making sure they don't turn into easy transition points for the dangerous Warriors, is at the top of Boston's to-do list for Game 4.

Don't Get Spanked In The Third

It's a record skip the Celtics can't seem to fix. They keep getting owned in the third quarter.

Coming out of halftime, they were outscored by 14 points in Game 1 and 21 points in Game 2. Despite being home and having Nelly put on a show at TD Garden, the C's were outscored 33-25 in the third quarter on Wednesday night.

At least in Game 3, the Celtics snapped out of it a bit at the end of the frame, winning the final minutes 11-7 to hold on to a four-point edge heading into the fourth. They weren't completely owned in the third, and it helped them flourish in the fourth quarter. 

The third quarter woes were not a problem in Games 1 and 3 because Boston absolutely dominated the fourth quarter. They crushed the Warriors 40-16 in Game 1 and then held them to just 11 points to close Game 3. Even in Game 2's blowout loss, the Celtics won the fourth 24-20. As good as the Warriors have been in the third, the Celtics have been even better in the fourth quarter.

Maybe all those blown leads from earlier this season were worth it after all.

"I'd probably say that I've learned and this team learned that no matter how things get, we still have a chance to take control, if not already be in control of that game," Marcus Smart said Thursday. "Even though they go on their runs, we understand that basketball is a game of runs, they're one of the greatest teams to do it, but so are we. We're going to make our runs as well.

"I think we've learned that we can control the game no matter how bad it looks if we just stick to what we know," Smart added.

But it would be a lot easier, and a lot more enjoyable, if the Celtics would play a lot better to start the second half. They're playing with some serious fire letting the Warriors heat up out of halftime.

Test Curry Early

Steph Curry is a little banged up after Al Horford fell on his left ankle fighting for a loose ball at the end of Game 3. Maybe the Warriors are playing it up and making it seem a lot worse than it is, but the Celtics should still test Curry as much as they can early in Game 4.

The Boston defense has been making Curry work for just about everything this series. He's getting his, averaging 31.3 points over the first three games, but he's looked fairly exhausted by the fourth quarter. He's scored just six fourth-quarter points -- total -- over the first three games of the series. (His zero fourth-quarter points in Game 2 is slightly misleading though, considering the Warriors were waltzing to a blowout win after crushing the Celtics in the third quarter.)

Curry had just four points in the fourth quarter of Game 1, and just two points in the fourth on Wednesday night. His lone make was a deep two off a stepback. He missed a pair of pullup threes, and had a floater sent back emphatically by Robert Williams.

This is a great trend for the Celtics, and they need to keep that going. But with questions surrounding his ankle heading into Friday night's game, they need to test him early and often in Game 4.