Post Game - Celtics vs. Golden State Warriors - Sunday, March 03 (W)

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401585500

Celtics-Warriors takeaways: The Jays dominate in statement rout

https://sports.yahoo.com/celtics-warriors-takeaways-jays-dominate-225947222.html

Darren Hartwell
Sun, Mar 3, 2024, 6:16 PM EST·4 min read

Celtics-Warriors takeaways: The Jays dominate in statement rout originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

What to Know

Brown burns Warriors early
Tatum strengthens MVP case
Boston's superior depth on display


BOSTON -- The Celtics may or may not have exorcised a few demons Sunday at TD Garden.

In their second home matchup against the Warriors since Golden State won the 2022 NBA Finals on their own floor, the Celtics raced out to a 44-point first-half lead -- their largest in franchise history -- and never looked back en route to a 140-88 win.

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 its previous 13 games.

Stephen Curry scored just four points on 2 of 13 shooting and went 0-for-9 from 3-point range. He and Klay Thompson didn't play in the entire second half, while C's head coach Joe Mazzulla pulled his starters midway through the third quarter of the 52-point win, which made Boston the first team in NBA history with three wins of 50-plus in one season.

The Celtics will take an 11-game winning streak into Cleveland on Tuesday to face the surging Cavaliers, who are the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed with a 39-20 record. Before that matchup, here are three takeaways from Sunday's victory:

Jaylen makes 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 first-quarter points.



Brown entered Sunday as Boston's leading first-quarter scorer (7.1 points per game), which makes Green's defensive strategy even more head-scratching. Brown used the apparent disrespect as fuel, firing up the TD Garden crowd as the Celtics raced out to a 44-22 lead.



Tatum bolsters MVP case

Ex-Celtics big man Kevin Garnett said Tatum could make a "loud statement" in the NBA MVP race Sunday. Mission accomplished, Jayson.

On his 26th birthday, Tatum 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 points first-half points combined) outscored the Warriors (38 points) by themselves through two quarters. Tatum's fingerprints were all over this blowout 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's now outdueled Luka Doncic and Curry in back-to-back games as the engine that drives the NBA's best team. If Tatum stays hot this week in matchups against the Cavs and reigning champion Denver Nuggets, expect his MVP stock to rise.

Depth charge

The Celtics have come a long way since the 2022 Finals -- particularly in the secondary scoring department.

While Brown and Tatum were the stars of the show, this 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 hit 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 for 9) both hit double figures off the bench, as well.



This game was in hand by 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 eye another deep postseason run in 2024.

What happens when a team with a 7 game win streak encounters a team with a 10 game win streak?
Seven come eleven baby!

What a beautiful game to watch. Our starters in a scant 20+ minutes accounted for 84 points. The entire Warrior team only had 88!

Jaylen's 360 degree assist to Jayson for a wide open 3 was literally incomparable. I have never seen that done before.

Hi,
Yes, that was total butt wooping. But the more important thing - Celtics played excellent defense in the first half (didn't pay much attention in the 3rd and 4th quarters).
Hopefully, they will play it come May and June.

AK

Not much to talk about with this one.

When did they start televising Celtic practices?

Anyone see Steph’s interview after the game?  It was on google this morning. Sounded a little ticked off,  did not mind rubbing the “who’s your Daddy” quotes in the Celtics face, what did he think would happen if they started winning?  Of course this is a grudge game, every game against them is a grudge game.  Poor baby, cry cry cry

Where was Thompson during all this, he totally disappeared.

I read that Klay is experiencing a wicked bad case of "feels" towards the coaching staff ever since he was relegated to the bench.

Then they reinserted him back into the starting unit for this important game. That probably didn't help him with his 'tude.

Changes coming?

Honestly, I can't get too excited over this win. Remember back in January the Celtics played 5 games in 7 days and the last game was against the Bucks at Milwaukee and they had a couple of days to rest. Well they blew us out and the game was over at the half. Sound familiar. We played great, but the Warriors were on the last game of a long road trip. This one, just like our game verses the bucks, is on the schedule makers. Not saying I didn't enjoy the beatdown.

The Celtics continue to set franchise records this season.

They scored 82 points in the first half. That was an eye popping achievement. You have to take a deep dive into Celtics history to find a better scoring first half. I figured it would have to be our highest scoring game ever and it was.

February 27, 1959 The Celtics beat the Lakers 173-139. The Celtics scored 83 points in the first half of that game and followed that up with a 90 point second half. Keep in mind that there was no 3 point shot.

The record that was set yesterday was their margin of victory. The Celtics have now won 3 games this season by a total of 50 points or more.

I am not the least bit surprised that Boston won all 3 homes games including the GSW dismantling.

We are now 60 games in and the results all point in one directions, so consider these points of reference:

Best NBA Record at 48-12
Best Home Record 29-3
Best Road Record 19-9 (Percentage)
Best Record vs sub .,500 teams 22-1
Best record vs .500 or better teams 28-11
Best Record in 10 point games 28-4
Best point differential 11.4

Celtics17 wrote:Honestly, I can't get too excited over this win. Remember back in January the Celtics played 5 games in 7 days and the last game was against the Bucks at Milwaukee and they had a couple of days to rest. Well they blew us out and the game was over at the half. Sound familiar. We played great, but the Warriors were on the last game of a long road trip. This one, just like our game verses the bucks, is on the schedule makers. Not saying I didn't enjoy the beatdown.

Good point, I thought of that too; but can’t deny I enjoyed the beatdown.

Celtics17 wrote:Honestly, I can't get too excited over this win. Remember back in January the Celtics played 5 games in 7 days and the last game was against the Bucks at Milwaukee and they had a couple of days to rest. Well they blew us out and the game was over at the half. Sound familiar. We played great, but the Warriors were on the last game of a long road trip. This one, just like our game verses the bucks, is on the schedule makers. Not saying I didn't enjoy the beatdown.

"Women and Children can be careless, but not men"

Actually there is a difference, when we lost to Bucks badly, that was second game of b2b and the previous game was an OT thriller vs Timberwolves. GS had a day off before they faced us….

dboss wrote:

Celtics17 wrote:Honestly, I can't get too excited over this win. Remember back in January the Celtics played 5 games in 7 days and the last game was against the Bucks at Milwaukee and they had a couple of days to rest. Well they blew us out and the game was over at the half. Sound familiar. We played great, but the Warriors were on the last game of a long road trip. This one, just like our game verses the bucks, is on the schedule makers. Not saying I didn't enjoy the beatdown.

"Women and Children can be careless, but not men"

LOL

+1

Fun fact. 18 players scored more points than Curry. Wonder what the Vegas odds on that would've been.

since all of you men do not want to get too excited about that beatdown, I will do it for you. I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT !!!

RosalieTCeltics wrote:since all of you men do not want to get too excited about that beatdown, I will do it for you.  I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT !!!

Rosalie

Not saying I didn’t love it.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:since all of you men do not want to get too excited about that beatdown, I will do it for you.  I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT !!!

\

Rosalie

I did too as I am sure most Celtics fans really enjoyed the show. It was a spectacular showing!

The Celtics however will not allow themselves to fly over their skis. They refuse to get too excited about any game once the next game becomes their focus.

It's on to Cleveland (BB)