Celtics fall short against the Warriors losing 118-112 in Jayson Tatum’s “revenge” game
On Wednesday night in Boston one of the most anticipated games of the early NBA season has finally arrived. Jayson Tatum and the 7-1 Celtics welcome Steve Kerr and the 6-1 Warriors to the Garden. The biggest NBA story over the summer was Kerr basically benching Jayson Tatum at the Olympics, after he was named to his 3rd All NBA first team in a row and won the NBA title. So the media circus will be in full effect at Kerr’s press conferences pre and postgame tonight. Knowing Jayson Tatum and Kerr they will both handle things very professionally and try to minimize the story.
However there’s no doubt Tatum will have some extra motivation after the public benching on such a big stage. I expect the Celtics to be motivated as a whole as they always are when the Warriors come to town. Not that they need extra motivation but anytime there’s this much public discourse over a regular season game the players are aware. Both sides come into this game a little banged up with the Warriors missing De’Anthony Melton and Brandon Podziemski while Boston will be without two of their stars in Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis.
Jaylen Brown missing this game is almost a bigger story to me than the Tatum vs. Kerr angle. Brown was snubbed by Team USA altogether and was very outspoken about it over the Summer. Jaylen’s loss on court is always significant for Boston but it’s tough not to think that he would have been especially motivated tonight to prove a point to Steve Kerr.
First Quarter:
The first quarter would get off to a somewhat slow start for both sides, Golden State would start 0-5 from the field. While Boston would get a Derrick White 3 pointer after a Queta layup to take an early 5-0 lead. It was the Derrick White show early for Boston with White going 3-3 from beyond the arc scoring 12 of Boston’s first 14 points giving the Celtics a 14-3 lead with 7:21 left in the first.
Jayson Tatum was playing his game early not trying to force anything as some might have expected with Kerr in the building. Tatum had two rebounds and an assist through the first five minutes of the game but the bigger story early was Golden State’s shooting struggles. The Warriors started the game 1-11 from the field.
Golden State would make a run though scoring 6 straight to make it 14-9 with 4:15 left in the first quarter. The Warriors would continue to chip away led by Gary Payton Jr. who would make an and one on Luke Kornet to close the Celtics lead to 14-11 with 3:22 left in the opening quarter. It was an ugly start with both teams shooting under 30% through the early going and making sloppy mistakes on both ends.
10 minutes into the game only 3 players had scored for Boston, White, Queta and Kornet not exactly how you’d draw it up as a Celtic fan. However Sam Hauser would hit a 3 pointer to add to the group increasing Boston’s lead to 19-14. The Warriors would battle right back though scoring 5 in a row tying it up 19 headed into the final minute of the first. Then Jayson Tatum would arrive with a 3 point play giving Boston a 22-19 lead with his first points of the night. The quarter would end with the Celtics leading 24-19 after a very ugly shooting quarter for two of the hottest teams in the league headed into the night.
Second Quarter:
The tough shooting night would continue for both sides early in the second, both teams were playing good defense and forcing the other to make mistakes on the offensive end. Boston would continue to lead by a small margin throughout the first few minutes of the second as Golden State was slowly closing the gap. Golden State plays the best 3-point defense in the league and it was on full display in the first half with Boston only shooting 27% from beyond the arc.
The Warriors would get their first lead of the night on a Kyle Anderson 3 pointer making it 27-26 but Payton Pritchard would immediately answer himself retaking the lead 29-27 for Boston. However Golden State’s bench would fuel a 14-3 run capped off by another Kyle Anderson 3 pointer to give them a 33-29 lead with 7:18 left in the half.
Pritchard would continue to be the Celtics spark off the bench scoring the teams first 7 points of the second quarter. The Warriors speed and physicality seemed to be a struggle for Boston early on, but the Celtics talent would keep them close with Derrick White and Tatum scoring on back to back possessions to cut the Warriors lead to 37-36 with 4:39 left in the half.
The Warriors defense was as advertised in the first half making Boston work for every inch of the court. Steph Curry would hit his first 3 of the night with a little over 3 minutes left in the half to give the Warriors a 40-36 lead. Boston would cough up it’s 10th turnover of the half leading to a Kevin Looney 3-pointer and then things would go from bad to worse with Moses Moody hitting a jumper as the buzzer went off. Giving the Warriors a 51-40 halftime lead after an embarrassing half of basketball from the defending champs, the Warriors deserve credit though they played defense and made Boston work all half.
Third Quarter:
The second half would get off to a much more explosive start than the first with the teams trading blows early on. However for Boston they had a deficit to chip away at an unusual spot for them this season. Golden State would lead by 10 through the first few minutes with both teams scoring in much more rapid succession than the previous half. Boston would cut the lead to 62-55 with 8 minutes to go in the third.
Jayson Tatum would hit a 3 pointer with 6:52 left in the third to cut the Warriors lead to six and Boston outscoring the Warriors 18-13 in the quarter. Back to back 3’s from Tatum would cut the Golden State lead to 4 with just under 5 minutes to go in the third. After Tatum’s back to back 3’s he’d get frustrated after a foul call on him and get another technical something the Celtics can’t afford in a close game.
Boston would get a Payton Pritchard 3 pointer with 3 minutes left in the quarter to keep the Warriors lead within reach 74-69. Tatum would hit another 3 pointer getting his quarter total up to 15 and closing the Warriors lead to 77-75 with 1:35 left in the quarter. The teams would continue to trade shots in the final 90 seconds of easily the best quarter of the night so far. Pritchard would hit a 3 pointer with just under 10 seconds to go to make it 82-81 Warriors at the end of the 3rd.
Fourth Quarter:
Boston’s offensive rhythm would continue to click early in the fourth taking their first lead taking an 87-84 lead after Derrick White and Payton Pritchard buckets with 9:55 left in the game. Boston would open the quarter on a 6-2 run. Neemias Queta would continue to make his impact in his new starting role with the Celtics getting more minutes than many expected scoring a massive offensive rebound putback slam to give Boston a 90-86 lead with 8:13 left in the game. Queta was up to a +18 in the game with the Celtics only leading by 4.
The Queta show would continue with a massive dunk on Looney giving Boston a 92-86 lead, Derrick White would then hit a 3 pointer to give Boston a 95-88 lead with 6:37 left in the game. The Warriors would get the Boston lead down to 97-96 with 4:18 left in the game after a Steph jumper.
Andrew Wiggins would hit a jumper to cap off a 5-0 Warriors run to give them a 98-97 lead with 3:30 left. Tatum would immediately answer with a jumper of his own as the teams would trade shots back and forth. After a Steph layup, Boston would miss a 3-pointer leading to a fast break layup for Buddy Hield giving them a 102-99 lead with 3 minutes to go.
Steph would continue to take over hitting another bucket to give the Warriors a 104-99 lead and things were getting dicey for Boston. But Tatum would continue to be Jayson Tatum hitting an and one with 2:10 left to make it 104-102 Warriors.
The Warriors would take a 4 point lead into the 90 seconds of the game and Jayson Tatum would take a bad shot early in the shot clock to give Golden State the ball back leading by 4 with a minute left. Buddy Hield would hit a 3 pointer to cap off a 23-9 run in the quarter to give the Warriors a 111-104 lead with 46 seconds left to go and Boston was on the ropes.
Horford would hit a quick 3 pointer with 41 seconds to go to make it a 4 point game but Boston would need a miracle at this point. Boston would get a glimpse of hope after 3 free throws from Payton Pritchard would make it a 3 point game. Then Draymond would get fouled and miss the first but make the second giving Golden State a 4 point lead with 11 seconds left. Tatum would go on to miss a 3 pointer and it was all over but the final score. The Warriors defense showed up big all night and made Boston work harder than they’re used too and without Jaylen Brown the team couldn’t find enough scoring options down the stretch to maintain their lead.
Boston would suffer their first home loss of the season losing 118-112 to Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and the Warriors. The Celtics will be frustrated with their effort and shooting woes but Golden State deserves a ton of credit for the gameplan they brought into tonight and how well it was executed. The Celtics will look to get back on track Friday night against the Nets.
