Warriors attack Celtics to go 7-1 before Cavs showdown

BOSTON – At Golden State media day in September, superstar guard Stephen Curry gave a mild statement of intent for this season when he said his Warriors are “in a position where we can be a relevant team early and give ourselves a chance to compete.

“Then consider where we are.”

Just weeks after Curry made those remarks, he and the Warriors improved to 7-1 on the season, moving into a three-way tie with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns for the best record in the Western Conference thanks to a thrilling 118 – 112 win over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Wednesday night.

But despite a win over the defending champions — one that saw the Warriors finish the night with the league’s third-best offense, second-best defense and best net rating (plus 15.5 points per 100 possessions) — Curry said he wasn’t ready to giving Golden State too much credit.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Curry, who finished with 27 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 steals in 34 minutes, said with a wry smile as he sat in the visitors’ locker room about an hour after the game ended. . “A good team, or a relevant team, wins the games they’re supposed to win, you steal a couple on the road against good teams, you protect your home court. We’ve done those things so far, but we got two more games on this road trip, two tough tests.

“So I like where we are, of course. But (there’s a) long way to go.”

The Warriors have only played 10% of their season, but the early returns are extremely encouraging. Golden State, which won its first title under coach Steve Kerr in the 2015 season behind the “Strength In Numbers” mantra, has taken that approach to a new level this season, playing as many as 13 players on any given night. With Brandin Podziemski out with an illness Wednesday, Golden State played 11 players — and all got at least 13 minutes.

As a result, the Warriors had a constant rotation of fresh defenders to throw at the Celtics, allowing them to wreak havoc on Boston’s offense. Although the Celtics hit their usual bushel of 3-pointers and finished 19-for-54 from beyond the arc, they committed 12 turnovers and generally looked offensive for large stretches in ways they typically have not only this season, but over. the last few — and especially outside of a 41-point explosion in the third quarter.

“They’re physical, so they force you to fight for your spot,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They have active hands, so I think in the first half they got a ton of deflections. They were able to get some things there, but I thought we did a better job of handling the physical in the second half and we’re just going again, we’re talking physical, it’s as much about defense as attack, so it took us a little time to adjust to that at the end.”

Most notably, it was a string of possessions that came after Gary Payton II dunked on a loose ball with 4:18 left, giving Golden State the ball with Boston leading 97-96 after Kerr called a timeout. Over the ensuing four minutes, Golden State outscored Boston 15-7 and scored on consecutive possessions to put the game away — in part due to a pair of massive offensive rebounds from Warriors center Kevon Looney, including one on an aerial corner 3 by Draymond Green.

It was reminiscent of Looney’s dominant rebound in the 2022 NBA Finals when Golden State shut out Boston in six games and underscored the way the Warriors won this game through their physicality and power on both ends.

“The last five minutes, I thought our defense really showed up,” Kerr said. “The activity, Gary getting on the floor, Loon getting two putbacks, those were maybe the two biggest shots of the game. And then Steph found Buddy (Hield) in the corner for the 3, I mean, it was all in sequence. It just felt like, we connected the game, got stops and were able to score and close it out.”

And as a result, a night that began with Kerr being booed after the so-called controversy surrounding his decision not to play Tatum in either game against Serbia for Team USA during the Americans’ run to a fifth straight Olympic gold medal ended this summer. with the Warriors winning off the famous parquet floor.

That the Warriors did it at the beginning of a rough early season stretch only lends confidence that they are more than a flash in the pan. Their next trip takes them to undefeated Cleveland on Friday, Oklahoma City on Sunday and then home for Klay Thompson’s return with the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday before facing Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies three days later.

But while it remains to be seen how long they can continue to play this way with so many contributors, Curry said he enjoyed what he’s seeing and how the Warriors are doing it.

“Until proven otherwise, this is how we’re going to play,” Curry said. “And we’ve talked about it. Coach has talked about it until he’s already blue in the face. Every practice, every film session, every pregame, it’s the same message. So that’s who we are right now, that’s the , we have You know, as the season goes on, the rotations get smaller … It happened tonight, just because you try to win. But it’s a fun way to play, because again, every night is different, and everyone has to stay engaged and it works.”