4 Celtics Takeaways from Narrow Wednesday Loss to Warriors

On Wednesday night, Jayson Tatum and his Boston Celtics nearly pulled off a miraculous second-half comeback against the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center. But a damn Stephen Curry returning from an ankle injury helped Golden State hang on long enough to secure an eventual 118-112 victory.

Things actually looked good for the Celtics early. After a strong 14-3 Boston start, the Warriors responded with a brutal 30-15 stretch, capped by back-to-back Kyle Anderson treys while throwing the Celtics out of rhythm with stellar defense. The Warriors would ride a 32-16 advantage in the second quarter to a 51-40 halftime lead. A 41-31 Celtics third frame brought Boston within a point, but a flurry of plays around the basket late (from free throws to putbacks) helped Golden State ice the W in the fourth.

Curry scored 27 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field (4-of-9 from deep) and 7-of-7 shooting from the foul line, passed for nine assists, grabbed seven rebounds, swept four steals and blocked one shot.

With the win, the Warriors improved to a stunning 7-1 record on the year, while the Celtics fell to 7-2 on the season.

Boston was without All-Star small forward Jaylen Brown and one-time All-Star center Kristaps Porzingis, while Golden State was without bench guards Brandin Podziemski and De’Anthony Melton.

Here are our takeaways:

Golden State has sought to balance its shooting with size and defense in the absence of former splash brother Klay Thompson, now with the Dallas Mavericks. Steve Kerr has tinkered with his starting lineup a bit this season, moving impending restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga to a backup role with the squad.

His current starting five of Curry, shooting guard Moses Moody (who, unlike Kuminga, agreed to a new contract extension this summer), small forward Andrew Wiggins, power forward Draymond Green and second-year center Trayce Jackson-Davis is an intriguing mix of shooting and size. That means this summer’s expensive lineup of free agents — Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson and De’Anthony Melton (though Melton was injured in this game) — has come off the bench. Hield has added a particularly prolific microwave scoring dimension to the club’s offense. 2024 All-Rookie Team guard Brandin Podziemski has also been rotated between the bench and Kerr’s starting units. Big man Kevon Looney and guard Gary Payton II have also settled into bench roles.

Suddenly, the team is deep, but not the kind of All-Star-studded team it was during Curry’s MVP prime. Everything revolves around Curry, but these new pieces integrate well with the established additions.

This is a pretty different team than the 2022 club that beat Boston in a hard-fought, six-game NBA Finals meeting. The 2024-25 Celtics class, now loaded with Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and that post-championship glow, is better, tougher, deeper and more confident than its 2023-24 incarnation. A respectable road loss tonight, without Porzingis or Brown, is hardly an indicator of how the two teams would fare in a series. Boston clearly has what it takes to repeat. It will be interesting to see if the Warriors get in the way.

Joe Mazzulla’s Celtics outscored the Warriors on Wednesday night, taking a whopping 54 triples (they made 19) to Golden State’s meager 34 (they made 14, for a better 41.2 percent). This cutting-edge approach was ultimately negated by a massive Warriors advantage in points scored in the paint, 52-36.

Even with Al Horford back in his starting lineup, Joe Mazzulla chose to keep Queta in his starting five. He moved Tatum down a position to accommodate the young big man who jumped to the five spot and Horford who started at power forward. Queta rewarded Mazzulla’s decision by playing Horford. He scored 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 from the foul line, grabbed eight rebounds, blocked two shots and registered a +13 in his 28:09 action, the only positive plus-minus among Boston’s starters .

All-NBA Celtics forward Jayson Tatum led all scorers with 32 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the floor (5-of-10 from long range) and 7-of-9 shooting from the charity stripe. All-Defensive Team guard Derrick White had 26 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field (7-of-16 from deep) and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line, plus six rebounds. Point guard Payton Pritchard, continuing his strong play of late, had 15 points, while the aforementioned Horford and Queta each scored in double figures.

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