Golden State Warriors (28-29) 114 - 119 Boston Celtics (31-26)

1st HALF

Right away, Curry’s gravity was making damages. Smart is going to stay airtight following him and, when Steph screens for Bazemore, Tatum is trying to contain Curry sprinting out so there’s no one to cover Bazemore and it’s an open layup from the Draymond feed. And Kerr will always fall in love with players that can make the most of these windows. And Dray has taken part in so many of these that he smells it if you try to give one back.

On the other side, Boston is trying to get Curry chasing Kemba around screens. In the first one, the Ojeleye screen forced Curry, as the only perimeter player, to engage in the chase. Kemba does hit Thompson for the roll but Draymond has no problem helping away from Sami to force Thompson back into Looney’s path. The second play, Curry started on Smart so they tried to switch - the first of many such plays -  but the Warriors defenders were in the same page, called it and Bazemore stays parallel to Tristan to stop any curl and they prepare to switch. Once Kemba spots it, he resets and attacks Looney in a traditional pick and roll.

Marcus might better than anyone in the league getting around screens and it’s pretty telling he can do his job right and Curry can still release that ball before the contest.

Draymond Green is rightfully perplexed that Wiggins went to close out on Ojeleye (and the way he sold out on stopping that pass too) with Tatum on the corner. He’s got to zone up the weak side but know the personnel…

Recently, posting up Jrue Holiday on Curry payed some dividends in the Bucks game and Boston now started to look for entry passes to Smart. These bigger guards can attack Curry inside and at worst they can draw help or a foul. Even as they switched Curry to less offensive-minded players like Grant, Dray had to help in order to avoid another post up. Kemba got attacked in similar ways - Wiggins has been successful posting up smaller players this season (more frequent earlier in the year though).

Without Brown and Fournier, Boston is just very limited in terms of reliable shooters and the half court offense was a struggle. The stats back up this statement because if you add together the possessions without those 2 on the court (obviously Jaylen’s more significant to the sample), the half-court offense has 93.4 points per 100 plays. That’s equivalent to bottom 10 half-court offense while Boston is 12th in the season. Grant Williams deciding to try and score on Green was… a choice, and the team followed that up with less than stellar transition defense.

But the C’s are a great offensive rebounding team (3rd in OREB%) and, despite not having their full squad, they still have more than enough to punish a very poor team on the boards like Golden State (23rd in Opponent OREB%).

With Curry scoring 14 points and opening it all up to the rest, Warriors up 9 by the end of the first quarter.

The Warriors start the second with their classic handoff out of two screens and Jordan Poole got to cook against Kornet. The call-and-response game continues as Pritchard and Tatum are forcing the switch and driving at Looney. Payton is definitely one of those rookies that fits into the “does not lack confidence/has no fear” molde.

The Warriors expand their lead with a succession of Wiggins pick-and-rolls wher-[URGH THAT’S MY BOY!

Steph and Green return and so does Smart, whose minutes were entirely matched up to Steph.

The Celtics defense started to look more disruptive in the final 5 minutes of the half. It just wasn’t translating to many buckets not the other end and it was kinda ruined by two consecutive plays having defenders bite on a Curry pump fake. Before you knew it, he had scored 8 points in 3 possessions and finished the half with 22.

The final minute would be the prelude of the comeback to come, as the Warriors were caught in transition a couple of times, Kemba drew the second charge of the game, and Tatum hit the buzzer beater for 23 points. 10-0 run for the C’s and a 6 point game at the half.

2nd HALF

Tatum continues where he left off posting up Wiggins and hitting a floater, drawing a foul on Bazemore (which… this man does a lot. Still leading all wings with 4.5 fouls per 36) and, if we started this off by showing a play with Curry and Kent on the same page, here we see a complete breakdown as both stick with Jayson and force some very tough rotations for the defense. I suspect it was a mix of not wanting to switch Tatum onto Curry and not wanting Smart in a position to post up again. Regardless, after an offensive foul by Bazemore, Kemba looks as fast and aggressive as I’ve seen him all year and drops his 3rd three in this early stretch. Celtics up 3 after being down 16.

This was a devastating stretch for the Dubs. Wanna see how things swing in the margins? Smart was 3-11 on the night from deep - a very Marcus Smart line - but sometimes it’s about making one in the right moment. The flow was benefitting the Celtics, High pick and roll, they trap Kemba and the choice is to allow Marcus the 3… and he nails it. Meanwhile, Andrew Wiggins, who ended the night 8-15 from the filed, airballs a similar chance and then (because he’s Andrew Wiggins) goes for a stepback midranger with more than 10 seconds on the shot clock.

I am shocked that they had a couple of timeouts and that, in both occasions, Curry just kinda spreads the floor away from the action and they run plays for Wiggins. 28-5 run in a bit over 5 minutes. Please, make it stop. 

And well… they kinda did. The first play he takes the ball up to get something for himself it’s a pull 3 of the kind you don’t even really register anymore that he keeps making. He follows it up with another… Sure, they finally had a couple of stops to get the defense back-pedalling but you’d think they could have tried it an extra time before this. I’m sure he’ll get doubled in the half-court but a 4v3 is a better option than whatever they were trying.

A quick note on GPII. Gary is a whatever you call a spark plug on the defensive end. He got out there eager to defend, show and recover, stick like glue to Walker… I can respect that. Him with JTA (still underrated), Dray and Looney out there guarantees you some solid defense, even if scoring becomes fully dependent on Wardell or whatever defensive mistakes an opponent makes.

I’m so happy after all these years I can still just be in awe… His very noticeable butt padding is the MVP right here.

The 3rd quarter ends on a show between the 2 best players on the court. All tied at 89.

We once again begin the non-Curry minutes with the same play for Jordan Poole and he gets to the rim on two occasions: for a 3-point play and one nice finish over Williams.

We enter this weird period where, of all people, Jabari Parker gets a couple of buckets in succession, Tatum continues to act like missing shots is merely optional and the Warriors drive-and-kicks are all turning into bricks while Marcus Smart hits his 2nd timely 3 of the night. But we see Steph subbed at the 7 minute mark with Boston up 2. Just in time to tweak his ank—oh for fuck’s sake!

A concussion is no joke and this is as insane a highlight as it is a scary moment.

Boston is now trapping Curry as hard a they can and forcing anyone else to beat them, and the one time they don’t he drains another 3 on Grant’s face. A crucial moment takes place with Brad Steven’s decision to challenge a foul that would have granted Curry 3 attempts at the line and not only was it a successful one, it would lead to Tatum making a corner 3 despite being heavily contested for 40 points in the night and keep it a 1-point affair.

There were a couple attempts to have Curry set the screen for Draymond, either to give Draymond an open roll or create space for Curry without the risk of a trap, but for the most part the switching ability of the Celtics lineup (TT is so valuable in this regard) helped contain any real danger.

CLUTCH REPORT:

2 minutes to go, Bazemore misses 2 free throws and… have I been building up all this “timely Marcus Smart 3 point shot on purpose? Who knows. But he only made 3, I already mentioned the other 2 and here we are with the big one. And this was his 4th offensive board of the night! So that’s 2 ‘Chekhov Guns’ that went off here. 

After Green can’t finish a layup over Smart to tie the game, Kemba hits another 3. This felt very much like a dagger until Curry decided that he would not go home just yet. It was not meant to be as Tatum makes both free throws and there wasn’t another miracle shot to be made this game.

An incredibly close game and a frustrating loss for the Warriors as it always is when Stephen Curry spits out a 47 points/11 threes performance. The Warriors shotmaking continues to be pretty good in this stretch, with the transition game being a huge component. But today the margins were thin enough that turnovers and offensive rebounds were enough to offset it. 

Tatum finally healthy after the COVID repercussions is a delight: 44 points and the 16 of 25 does not reflect the shot difficulty. The run at the end of the 2nd he fuelled, the tough finishes at the rim where he's bumping against bigs, the contested jumpers... It doesn't put to ease my questions on the Celtics offense when the postseason rolls around but watching this level of shotmaking by Tatum and Kemba looking much more like what they need from him does make me more curious to see the full squad - finally healthy. Awesome show.