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There was only one last thing left to say at the end of Thursday night’s Boston Celtics’ 121-118 overtime win over the Golden State Warriors.
Please do this for 7 more games.
Boston and Golden State did not disappoint in their second and final meeting of the regular season. The only real disappointment is knowing that these two teams won’t face off again unless they make his June NBA Finals rematch overwhelmingly welcomed but unlikely. is to be
Thursday’s meeting had more or less everything: clutch buckets, inexplicable turnovers, harbingers of growth, evidence of lingering weakness, Al Horford rewinding time, questionable foul calls and no calls, plenty of offensive rebounds. , Jayson Tatum lows, Jayson Tatum highs, and Stephen Curry’s rearranging masterpiece over the buzzer beater over half court:
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Steph. curry. 😱 pic.twitter.com/8owyxVMPHs
I had a philosophical question:
Well, yes, this game also had overtime. Jaylen Brown’s huge crunch time thanks to his bucket. Jaylen Brown is back in the Celtics lineup after missing nearly a week with a right adductor muscle injury.
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Jaylen Brown Force OT. pic.twitter.com/qP6ZhBxs9X
This is not enough. Or a quarter of that. The game had a lot more—Oh, and many more. Listing them all would be information overload.
But most of all, it had a playoff vibe —a final feel.
The Warriors and Celtics didn’t treat this like just a regular season trend. Tatum played all 29 minutes of the second half and extra time. Klay Thompson put up the most defensive fight we haven’t seen since Golden State last played Boston on December 10th. , and the name on the back of his jersey. (He also had his usual on-brand Instant dose of WTF.)
Throughout the game, there was a tension unique to spring basketball. All of the Celtics’ unforced turnovers felt irreparable. Every offensive rebound the Warriors confiscated required the favorite trade to keyboard hard into his machine.
Any lead greater than possession felt insurmountable.
This is not emotional overprojection. Nor is it a makeshift material. Tatum admitted in a walk-off interview with Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes and TNT’s NBA that this game is different.
When you reject irrefutable scientific evidence in favor of #DoingMyOwnResearch, you risk yelling into the clouds and wrinkles adorn your face.
And we basketball fans deserved it.
Anecdotally, this regular season has been inundated with injuries, and the Clippers’ availability seems to be getting worse. In nearly every important game, he missed one or three Premier League appearances.
Boston and Golden State have broken that mold. Almost everyone played. The Warriors could have tapped into Jonathan’s kuminga (right leg sprain) athleticism and brute force power, but they didn’t lose a star. this It was the end of back-to-back Klay Thompson. (Golden He State faces Cleveland on Friday.) Not only is Brown back with the Celtics, he’s racked up more than 41 minutes.
Even the coaches visibly thought the game had a special meaning.
Steve Kerr made it eight tiers in the Warriors’ rotation while choosing to shrink the starting lineup by inserting Poole in place of Kevon Looney. Joe Mazzura didn’t try to beat Grant Williams or Luke Cornette any more time than he could reasonably. Despite resting Horford to start the extra frame, he still used his 36-year-old over his 37 minutes.his 3rd highest total of the season.
That the end result lived up to the emotional attachment to the result makes it even sweeter.
This matchup oscillated between chaotic sloppiness and utter, utter brilliance. Sometimes they were combined into one. In four seconds before Steph’s buzzer his beater he had 80 turnovers.
But that’s part of the charm of the Celtics and Warriors, just as it was in the Finals. You have to ruminate on the bigger issues and deployments.
The Celtics bled a familiar imperfection for most of Thursday night. They committed a total of 17 turnovers, including six in his second and five in the fourth, many of which were unforced. They shot under 32% from Deep (13 out of 41) with mostly high quality looks, including a horrible 8/30 clip (26.7%) for the first three quarters.
They left too many points on the foul line. Derrick White disappeared in the attack. Combining Brown and Tatum, from the floor he shot 6/27 in 3 frames. Without the front-line offensive rebound, the game would have been over long before it actually ended.
But at the same time, the Celtics produced a ton of evidence of growth.
Tatum was unable to finish on his most efficient line (7 turnovers) and looked poorly defensively for most of the game, but he managed to score 34 points and 6 while making frequent trips to the Charity Stripes. Spit out assists (12 of 12). His ability to keep driving when the descents get too deep and how he finds ways to score in the night off the perimeter is huge.
The Warriors continue to look like they got the Celtics. Boston really knows how to get in Tatum and Brown in his end defensively, not being able to make much off-ball movement on offense.
Starting pool over Looney yielded mixed results. His five starts from his three he shot more than 40% and tipped the Celtics defense for good, but still won In the minutes on the floor while allowing Boston to board over 30% of his own mistakes.
In the end, you will find yourself juggling conflicting impressions. We have to thank the Warriors for making aggressive adjustments in their standards.
Anthony Slater @Anthony Vslater
Steve Kerr said he was going to start small, with Jordan Poole replacing Kevon Looney. pic.twitter.com/G7WEwPC3aQ
Also, the same old flaws are on the back of your head that you can’t help but roll your eyes and cringe.
Careless turnovers still plague the Warriors. And their defensive rebound is a legitimate concern. They are average on glass at best and friendly fire roadkills at worst.Celtics Ejected Thursday Night almost 36% recovery of my own mistake.
The Warriors’ loss structure evokes all sorts of emotions. They dominated most of the game and seemed to beat themselves in many ways (turnovers). Do they have championship gear now, as they are no doubt built? are you there?
And do they have the courage and trust if changes are needed in the roster composition this timeline Even if that deal came at the expense of a lead or pick, how do you do it?
A similar question applies to the Celtics. Their second big is not easily playable in certain matchups, including this matchup. White and Malcolm Brogdon’s intermittent vanishing acts stir anxiety, and Sam Hauser’s shooting regression looms (similar to his “DNP – Coach’s Decision”).
Should the Celtics move mid-season for another big or perimeter choice? Will they have meaningful additions?Or are they better off knowing what they know and standing putt perhaps Would you like to land someone who definitively cracks the top 7 or 8 of the rotation?
The two teams are attractive both as opponents and as independent teams. But their performance on Thursday reinforced what we already knew, even in deep contemplation.
Left alone, the Celtics and Warriors are a perfect high-stakes matchup. It’s a mix of similarities and contrasts that, if the fate of the conference allows it, makes for an ideal final showdown.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale) and hardwood knock A podcast co-hosted by Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes.
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