Celtics hope protecting ball better will protect home court

By JOSH DUBOW
AP Sports Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — If the Boston Celtics want to do a better job of protecting home court than they did in the last two rounds, they will need to start doing a much better job of protecting the ball. Sloppy ball handling once again proved costly to the Celtics, whose propensity for committing turnovers has been a recurring problem during this playoff run. Boston gave it away 19 times in a 107-88 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Game 3 is Wednesday night in Boston.