What there is to know
- Brown burns the Warriors early
- Tatum strengthens his MVP case
- Boston’s top depth exposed
BOSTON — The Celtics may or may not have exorcised a few demons Sunday at TD Garden.
In their second home game against the Warriors since Golden State won the 2022 NBA Finals on their home court, the Celtics blew a 44-point lead in the first half – their largest lead in NBA history. franchise – and never looked back en route to a 140-88 victory.
Boston dominated from the jump despite playing without Kristaps Porzingis. All-Stars Jaylen Brown (29 points) and Jayson Tatum (27 points, five assists) led the way for the Celtics, who shot 51 percent (25 for 49) from 3-point range to dismantle a Warriors team that had won 11 of 49 points. his previous 13 matches.
Stephen Curry scored just four points on 2-of-13 shooting and went 0-of-9 from 3-point range. He and Klay Thompson did not play for the entire second half, while C’s head coach Joe Mazzulla pulled his starters midway through the third quarter of the 52-point victory, which made Boston the first team in NBA history with three 50-plus wins in a season.
The Celtics will take an 11-game winning streak to Cleveland on Tuesday to face the Cavaliers, the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 39-20 record. Ahead of that game, here are three takeaways from Sunday’s win:
Jaylen makes the Warriors pay early
Draymond Green’s attempt to play mind games with Jaylen Brown backfired, to say the least.
Green essentially dared Brown to shoot in the first quarter, inexplicably giving the All-Star several feet of space in drop coverage. Brown responded by burying 5 of 9 3-pointers in the frame en route to 19 points in the first quarter.
Brown entered Sunday as Boston’s leading scorer in the first quarter (7.1 points per game), making Green’s defensive strategy even more of a headache. Brown used the apparent disrespect as fuel, igniting the TD Garden crowd as the Celtics took a 44-22 lead.
Tatum strengthens his MVP case
Former Celtics big man Kevin Garnett said Tatum could make a ‘strong statement’ in the race for NBA MVP Sunday. Mission accomplished, Jayson.
On his 26th birthdayTatum followed Brown’s 19-point first quarter with a 20-point explosion in the second quarter, hitting 6 of 7 shots (3-for-3 3PT) while adding three assists and a steal.
Tatum and Brown (47 combined points in the first half) single-handedly dominated the Warriors (38 points) through two quarters. Tatum’s fingerprints were all over this resounding victory; he played a key role in limiting Curry on the defensive end and finished with a team-best plus-40 plus-minus.
Tatum is still fifth on the MVP ladder at most sportsbooks, but he has now overtaken Luka Doncic and Curry in back-to-back games as the engine that powers the NBA’s best team. If Tatum stays hot this week in matchups against the Cavs and the defending champion Denver Nuggets, expect his MVP rating to rise.
Depth charge
The Celtics have come a long way since the 2022 Finals, especially in the secondary scoring department.
Even though Brown and Tatum were the stars of the show, it was still a team effort for Boston: Derrick White contributed 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting with a team-high eight assists, while ‘Al Horford made 3 of 5 shots for seven points while adding four assists.
Payton Pritchard (19 points on 8-of-12 shooting) and Sam Hauser (12 points; 4-of-9) also both reached double figures off the bench.
This game was in hand at halftime, but the Celtics reserves still outscored Golden State by nine in the third quarter, a testament to their improved depth since June 2022 and a good sign as they look ahead to another series of ‘deep post-season in 2024.
