The Golden State Warriors had their work cut out for them on Wednesday night. They headed to New England for their third consecutive road game. They were facing a Boston Celtics squad that was one of the best in the NBA even before recently welcoming Jayson Tatum back into the fold. And, despite being a little healthier than in recent games, they were still at a distinct health disadvantage.
All of which left them at a distinct talent disadvantage. And while the Dubs put up a fight, that gap in available
talent showed itself on the scoreboard, where the Warriors lost 120-99.
It started out with some electricity. On the very first defensive possession of the game, Kristaps Porziņģis had two emphatic blocks back-to-back, and followed it up by getting fouled on the other end. It looked like he might be set for a high-impact revenge game, as the Warriors were facing one of his former teams for the third straight game.
That didn’t happen. Porziņģis missed both free throws, and had a fairly nondescript game overall, and the Celtics quickly took control of the contest. It was a wild and hectic pace for the first six or so minutes, with the teams flying up and down the court and exchanging fun offensive possessions. But soon Boston’s stars — Tatum and Jaylen Brown — started to take over. And as their offense became automatic, Golden State’s faltered. Boston turned it into a double-digit game in the blink of an eye, and Brown capped a nearly perfect quarter — he had 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting — by sinking a tough shot with just 0.3 seconds remaining. The Celtics lead 36-23 after one.
They responded well to start the second quarter, forcing turnovers and converting them into points in the opening possessions. They were finally playing good defense, and they were scoring, too … for a while, at least. They stayed aggressive, and got into the bonus early, but the offense completely fell apart, and just couldn’t do anything. Meanwhile, Tatum started finding his groove in what was one of his best games since returning earlier this month from an Achilles tear.
The Warriors quickly lost contact with the Celtics, and were suddenly down 20 points. But late in the quarter the Dubs showed life, and started to figure out their offense. They cut into the deficit a little bit, and trailed 63-50 at the break.
For a brief moment in the third, it seemed like the Warriors might make things interesting. They came out of halftime firing, scoring the first six points while playing excellent defense. But they were never able to fully close the gap. They were sticking with the Celtics, but the deficit remained in the 10-point range. Boston wasn’t running away with it, but Golden State wasn’t getting particularly close.
Yet again, the Celtics found their rhythm late in the quarter. One moment you thought the Dubs might make a game of it; the next, they were down 21.
They had one final run in them, and no one can accuse the Warriors of not playing hard. Between the end of the third and the start of the fourth, the Warriors went on a 9-0 run to start to steal the momentum. That cut the lead to nine points, but what followed effectively ended the game for the Dubs. They immediately got sloppy, while the Celtics heated up from beyond the arc. Boston quickly answered with eight unanswered points, and from there, it was never competitive again, as the two teams coasted to the finish line in opposite directions.
