After a 12-year drought, the NBA Finals returned to Boston in style on Wednesday night. Led by the trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart, the Celtics took a 2-1 series lead with a 116-100 Game 3 win over the Golden State Warriors.

While Boston was in the driver's seat for the majority of the game, the Warriors continued their third-quarter dominance and nearly stole a victory. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the Celtics' crucial win.

Celtics Game 3 Takeaways

1) Boston proved its resiliency (again)

Coming into Game 3, the Celtics were 6-0 following a loss during this year's playoffs, and while they have shown the ability to bounce back before, this was their ultimate test.

Boston faced another third-quarter barrage from the Warriors, a blown lead, excellent shooting nights from the Splash Brothers, and still answered by holding Golden State to 11 points in the fourth quarter. Also, the Finals are arguably a different beast than the Conference Finals, so responding to a blowout Game 2 loss with a double-digit win on the NBA's biggest stage is telling.

For all of the questions about the Celtics' total lack of experience in the Finals and the Warriors' abundance of it, this win showed that Boston can counter when it matters most.

2) The Celtics refused to let extracurriculars hurt their game

Early in the second quarter, Golden State veteran and notorious instigator Draymond Green drew an offensive foul on Grant Williams and proceeded to get in his face. This chippy moment was similar to a confrontation Green and Brown had in Game 2, and it seemed as if Green was going to get into the heads of the young Celtics squad once again.

However, from that moment on, Williams thoroughly outplayed Green, tallying 10 points and five boards in only 20 minutes. Conversely, Green had a mere two points and fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Despite Green's experience and his attempts at distracting the Celtics from their game, Boston demonstrated that it can drown out the noise when necessary.

3) Surviving the Splash Brothers is possible

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson –arguably the greatest backcourt shooting duo in league history– were making Boston pay for its shaky drop coverage and iffy perimeter defense. In Games 1 and 2, Curry was mostly punishing the Celtics while Thompson was cold, yet during Game 3 both were lighting it up from beyond the arc. The dangerous duo combined for 56 points and scored just as many in the third quarter (25) as the entire Celtics team.

Even though the Splash Brothers looked unstoppable at times, Boston still outlasted Golden State in spite of their sharp shooting. If the Celtics can take care of the ball and get solid performances from their stars and supporting cast, they can take down Golden State even when Curry and Thompson are at their best.

Essentially, Game 3 showed that Boston can take a punch from a talented, experienced Warriors team and throw one right back.