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Celtics Wrap: Jayson Tatum, Stephen Curry Shine As Boston Extends Win Streak
Boston extended its win streak to six games


NESN by Sean T. McGuire

Now that was an incredible basketball game.

Jayson Tatum was amazing all night, Kemba Walker stepped up with his best performance in recent memory and Marcus Smart hit arguably the biggest shot after an otherwise cold night. All told, the Celtics earned a 119-114 win over the Golden State Warriors at TD Garden on Saturday.

And it came despite the Stephen Curry’s 47 points on 11-for-17 from 3-point range.

Tatum finished with 44 points on 16-for-25 from the field while adding 10 rebounds. Walker added 26 points on 9-for-20 from the floor while Smart scored 16 points on 15 shots.

Jabari Parker, who joined the Celtics on a two-year deal Friday, played 16 minutes in his debut. He provided the Celtics a clear boost on the offensive end so much so that head coach Brad Stevens put him back in the final two minutes. Parker finished with 11 points on 5-for-6 from the floor.


Boston improved to 31-26 on the campaign while Golden State fell to 28-29.

Here’s how it went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Semi Ojeleye
C: Tristan Thompson

FALLING BEHIND
The Celtics couldn’t cash in on a few early looks from long range and turned the ball five times in the quarter, all while Stephen Curry did Stephen Curry things on the other end. It helped the Warriors take a 27-13 lead nine minutes into the quarter.

Tatum and Parker, however, helped bring the Celtics back a bit. Tatum benefitted from some clean looks and scored nine of his 13 first-quarter points in the final two minutes.


Parker checked in off the bench to play the final five minutes and he scored four points on 2-for-2 from the floor.


Besides Tatum, the other four Celtics starters scored just seven points between them.



Golden State shot 13-for-22 (59%) with 14 points from Curry en route to a 33-24 lead after the first quarter.

Boston shot 10-for-22 (46%) from the field in the first including 2-for-9 (22%) from beyond the arc.

ENDING ON A RUN
The Warriors started the quarter on a mini 13-5 run to take a 15-point lead less than four minutes into the period.

Golden State’s lead remained at 15 points with 1:53 left in the half. Curry, on consecutive possessions, hit three free throws as he was fouled on a chance from deep and then finished on an absolutely ridiculous four-point play.


The Celtics responded in a major way to make sure the game didn’t get out of hand. Boston put together a 10-0 run over the final 1:29 to cut its halftime deficit to merely six points.

During the run, Walker finished on a traditional three-point play, Tatum scored on a basket in the paint before hitting a shot from the corner at the buzzer.


Tatum led all scorers with 23 first-half point on 9-for-12 from the field.


Walker added nine points himself on 4-for-8 from the field, too.


Curry led Golden State with 22 first-half points.

Boston shot 24-for-48 (50%) from the field while Golden State finished the first half shooting 23-for-39 (59%).


THIS ONE IS ENTERTAINING
Walker scored nine points on three 3-pointers during the opening 2:22 of the second half and it helped the take a 71-68 lead. He was 7-for-11 from the field at the time.

Boston, though, wasn’t done there as its run continued with a 3-pointer by Smart and a pair of baskets by Tatum. The C’s took a 78-71 lead after out-scoring Golden State 28-5 in a matter of 4:45 of game time.

That stretch carried from the end of the second and start of the third quarter.



Boston went on to miss its next seven shots as the Warriors regained their 82-78 left with three minutes left in the quarter.

The back-and-forth third quarter, which heavily featured Curry (38 points) and Tatum (32), was tied up 89-all heading into the fourth.


DOWN TO THE WIRE
Boston started cold from the field (1-for-4) with one turnover as Golden State took a 86-91 lead 2:32 into the fourth.

Parker converted on a pair of buckets including hustling for an offensive rebound and put back. Smart hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to give Boston a 100-98 lead with 7:12 left.


Curry’s ninth 3-pointer of the game gave the Warriors a 103-101 lead with six minutes left and his 10th of the contest extended Golden State’s lead to 109-103 with four minutes left.


Tatum cut that back to a one-point game, 109-108, with a corner three of his own.

Smart then connected on a 3-pointer of his own to give the Celtics a 111-109 lead. Tatum then finished in the paint on the next possession to make it 113-113 with 49 seconds left.

Draymond Green missed a layup which would have tied it and Walker came back on the other end and hit a massive 3-pointer to give Boston a 116-111 lead with 25 seconds left.

Boston was able to put the finishing touches from there.

UP NEXT
The Celtics return to TD Garden on Monday to host the Chicago Bulls. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET

112288

No, Brown, no Williams, no Fournier, no problem!

I don't know what has happened to this team- they have gone from a soft pushover to a gritty, fighting, ferocious, battling team with amazing fortitude within a span of a few weeks.

Hats off to all of them, especially Tatum who has elevated his play not only individually, but in a team-friendly way. He is starting to make those around him better.

I am in awe of this team.

Berlin-T

"Houston, we have a problem!"  (And it ain't ours!!  It's the league's!!)

Wow!  Nice premiere by Jabari P.!!  I was impressed.  But the Larry Bird vs. Dominique Wilkins Flashback Award goes to...

Jayson Tatum and Steph Curry!!  I'm going to guess without looking or remembering that Larry lost the battle but won the war as did JT last night.  (Now I'm going to look it up...1988 EC Semifinals game May 22, 1988 and YES!!! I am correct)

But I cheated.  Or at least I applied my knowledge of Celtic basketball and history to really make it look like I cheated.  That's the difference between playing as a team that has a superstar but knows he's not the only one out there vs. a team with the human highlight reel.  

I'm still very glad to see after 33 years (I know it's 34 years since that game, but you see the method in my madness!!  Think jersey #!!) Team beats Show.  Always.  Not by much and it is very entertaining to the fans, but Team beats Show.  Always.  

Still not our best game.  It looks like the bench has gotten the message with PP hitting 11 points and being a total pest and scrapper.  "Mix that up togethah" (brownie points if you can complete the quote and name the scene and movie) with JP and Fournier and that just might be enough.  More than enough with a month to go.  One paper, that situation should look and does look very complex to the competition.  "Now we have to stop 3 guys off the bench that can score?!!  What happened to a bench with just a Mo Williams coming in as the 6th man?  I'm tapping out!"

I'm going to wife's paycheck yet another event if it hasn't already happened.  I'm going to bet J. Parker approach Marcus Smart if he hasn't already and says, "I know we don't have much time, but can you give me the Cliff Notes version of how to play lock down defense, I will not disappoint you or the team?"  It's really hard to come to any Celtics team and just be a scorer.  You can learn defense.  

The thing is with people that are grateful just to be back on the court playing and scoring again, they know their weaknesses and will take time to shore those up so the rest of the team won't be have to help fill in their gap(s) or be a liability.  Why not go to the best in the business for defense?  It certainly won't hurt.  He's right on your team!  Might even put understudy PP in there for scrappy lessons!

Who's next?  Chicago!

Go Celtics!!

db

P.S.  If I don't say this enough, with all my ranting of late it goes to show I don't know jack about Celtic basketball.  All I see are the games, somewhat know the history during the good times and hang out with some of the greatest Celtic minds in the business on this site but have no clue what goes on behind the scenes and day-to-day of this organization.  That's where this team is made.  I can tell they are excited about something lately.  Of course, we sort of know what that is...putting the pieces together to figure out how to beat #1, #2 and maybe #3 (if it is not ourselves) in the East in a 4-game series.  Roll it, Sam (adjusted for the times)...."See you in May!!"

Epic dual between Tatum and Curry. Fun game to watch.

Circumstances being what they where, this game goes into the signature column.  There was a playoff level intensity.  

The Tatum/Curry duel was truly magnificent. We saw the full arsenal at work.  Unbelievable shot making under pressure.

In the Pre-game thread my take was

"Look for Jayson to step up along with KW."

That is what happened.  Kemba had his best scoring game since Feb 26th when he dropped 32 against Indy.  He made the 'Big Shots' when we needed him to.

Jabari Parker is no rookie.  When a guy steps into a lineup for the first time having never played with a team and is able to preform well, you are left with the unmistakable feeling that he is a good fit.  Parker looked decisively quick.

Boston has leap frogged the up and coming Hawks and are now in 4th place.

The team appears to be on solid footing and will be one to avoid.  The overall depth went from little to quite a bit with the Fournier trade and the Parker signing.

Fournier means no worries about either RL or AN being able to score and Parker bumps Grant Williams and Semi down a notch.

Our 9 man depth chart is coming into view and it looks like a pretty good one.

Tatum
Brown
Walker
Smart
RWilliams
Thompson
Fournier
Parker
Pritchard

Isn't it amazing what a few wins will do to a fan's opinion of their team. To those who were ready to give up, you were too quick to the delete button.

They are not perfect, still have issues to work through, but, are on the road to making the rest of the league sit up and watch. Here we come

Kudos to Danny for finding the depth we have been lacking and we didn’t see that last night, but great game with Tatum stepping up his A game when we needed it. I can’t wait to see this team healthy going into the playoffs. We are playing gritty and unselfish and 2 J’s are taking their games up another level. Smart is doing his things and Kemba is making big shots too. I really like our bench now as dboss noted, what a difference with Frenchy and love a good reclamation project that the forgotten Parker will be. As you guys know I love RWill and love all these pieces coming together playing off our 2 superstar wings picking up their games for the playoffs. Right now as the team gets healthier we will be the hottest team going into to the playoffs, anything can happen. Why can’t Tatum or Brown go for 40 in a playoff game?

What a game, huh?!

They were without #2 pick James Wiseman, Kelly Oubre and Pascall but we were without 3 of our top 6 players, we were without All-Star starter Jaylen Brown, Robert Williams and Fournier.  I see that as a net talent loss for us, since none of their missing players are starters, much less All-Stars.  We were also coming off of a west coast road trip, which usually makes this a trap game.  In fact, we were down 16 at one point, looking like we had no idea how to stop Curry etal, and it was possible our travel legs had finally caught up with us.  A month ago we would have wilted under this pressure, especially in the 4th quarter.  Remember how awful our 4th quarters were?  Not anymore.  On this 6 game win streak our 4th quarters have been great.

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
yesterday
This is the fifth time in the last six games the Celtics have trailed in the 4th quarter. They've won the first four.

And now they're 6-for-7. Not bad for a team we were all ready to write off.


Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Brad Stevens suggesting it’s not rocket science why the Celtics have played better lately: “Well again, I think the number one reason for our little run here is we've been, for the most part, healthier.”

As many of you know I live in the San Francisco bay area.  As such I've been able to watch more Warriors basketball over the last 8 years than many of you.  When Steph gets going like he did last night the only chance you have, the only chance, is to get the ball out of his hands with a double team.  He's such a good dribbler and passer that's easier said than done but if you let him get a pick and dribble free you're doomed.  He isn't particularly athletic, he doesn't jump high on his shots like, say, Jaylen does but he needs virtually no daylight to get off a lethal shot because of his extremely quick release.  His release is so fast it almost looks like he's just chucking it, to get it out of his hands, but he's obviously not just chucking them up.  He hit a crazy +1 at about 1:28 of the highlight film below.  Last night was Curry's 10th straight 30+ point game.  That is an amazing hot streak.  Last night he was 11-19 from 3 and 15-27 overall.  Time brings progress and that is especially true in sports.  Love it or hate it Steph Curry has changed the game for back court players the way Dirk did it for 7'ers and there's no going back now.  

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Brad Stevens said Stephen Curry is as fun to watch as any player. Said as an opponent of his you always feel like you’ll become the next line of a fairy tale.


Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
·
10h
6th time in the last decade someone's dropped 47 on the Celtics...

...Steph's done it twice.






With Brown out we needed Tatum to have a monster game to offset Curry's.  We got it.  He was 16-25, 5-9 from 3, 10 rebounds.  We needed this type of a game from him to not just get swamped by Steph.  A key stat to discern is that out of his 25 fgas only 9 were 3s.  I can live with that.

John Karalis @RedsArmy_John
8 hours ago
Jayson Tatum's last 13 games: 29.5 ppg, 51.1% shooting, 41.6% from 3, 91.3% on FT


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 7 hours ago
Jayson Tatum Saturday cracking this list for the second time in nine days... In the last 15 years, Isaiah Thomas in the only Celtic to score more in regulation than Jayson Tatum did Saturday. (That game, the last of calendar 2016, was the birth of IT's "King of the 4th" run.) pic.twitter.com/qSy4RqJebY





But he couldn't do it alone.  Kemba played a really good game.  This was the old Kemba, the one we paid for.  26 points on 9-20.  When was the last time Kemba took that many fgas and shot anywhere near that well on them?  He also had 8 rebounds.  He was 4-11 from 3, therefore 5-9 from 2.  But his impact in the last 24.8 seconds of the game was really big.  The score was 113-11 and he hit a 25' 3 to put us up by 5, and 2 possessions with the shot clock being turned off.  When, not to be outdone, Steph came down court and hit a 26'er there were 2 fritos by Tatum and 1 by Kemba.  That's 4 points, and great poise, under incredible pressure by Kemba.  I've been as down on Kemba as anybody on this board, maybe even more, but that's because he didn't give me much to praise him for.  He came through big-time last night.  We can go far in the playoffs with this Kemba.  In fact, if he just keeps playing like this for the rest of the regular season teams will have to coach as if this is the Kemba they will face in the playoffs and that's impactful too.




We needed Kemba to go off to counter Wiggins.  Semi struggled on defense with him, to say the least.  Well, it's hard to keep track of your man when he's not only faster than you but you're mesmerized by Steph.

Pritchard with his 2nd straight double-digit contribution.  He was 3-6 from 3.  Despite cooling down from his early hot start, despite admitting he has hit the Rookie Wall because of its long, physically demanding nature, he is still shooting 40.7% from 3 on the season.  I said that Steph has changed the guard position forever.  Watch Fast PP take, and hit, a 3 from just inside the logo at about the :28 point in the highlight film below.  Before Steph nobody was taking those shots, they were considered awful shots.  Then Dame started doing it and now others are, including rookie Payton Pritchard.




I think I can now say, backed by some evidence and without too much controversy, that Jabari Parker is an upgrade over Moritz Wagner.  His defense wasn't that great, but he just showed up so he deserves a bit of a pass there, but he is certainly paying attention on offense.  What impressed me is that Brad actually ran an ATO for Parker.  That's pretty amazing Parker had literally just showed up.  Here it is.  Note he has some real old-school big-man back-to-the-basket skills.  https://twitter.com/i/status/1383652502164295689.  11 points on 5-6 and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes is a nice introduction to Boston.  All 4 of those rebounds were offensive rebounds, which is a very nice introduction to me.  I suggest you watch this highlight film, it's only 1:30.  Parker has inside moves, paint monster big moves.  Also, towards the end of the clip, he rebounds a Smart 3pt airball by just going around 6'4" Ken Bazemore.  Not bulldozing him, just slipping around him.  If Tacko can learn to use his feet like that he'll be unstoppable.  If...

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
yesterday
Jabari Parker has scored more points tonight for the Celtics than he did all season in Sacramento.






Marcus Smart with a HUGE offensive rebound with 1:24 left and the score 109-108 GSW.  He then hit a wide open 3ptr 8 seconds later to put us up 2.  He had a total of 4 offensive rebounds.  I love Marcus Smart.  Anybody who doesn't love Smart has no concept of what winning basketball plays are.  

Juan Toscano-Anderson, a bay area kid who grew up in Oakland, rooted for the Warriors his whole life and has spent most of his basketball career playing in Mexico is now on a 2-way contract with the Warriors, sustained a concussion while earning a serious Tommy Point.  He dove over the media table to save a ball, which ended up as a Curry 3 and went absolutely head-over-teakettle.  That was impressive effort and came at a key time in the game with < 6 minutes left, the score 101-100 Celtics.  His save, and subsequent Curry 3, gave his team a 2 pt lead.  He's averaging 18mpg this year in 40 games, so he's not only getting his shot Steve Kerr is rewarding him with rotation minutes.  Too bad our 2-way players can't earn them.  Reports this morning are that Toscano-Anderson is now in the NBA concussion protocol.

We won this game because we got more possessions and more fgas.  On fgas it was 94-80.  14 more fgas is a lot.  Those additional 14 fgas, and the more than 14 additional possessions that produced them, came from 6 more offensive rebounds (Parker with 4 of them!), 8 fewer turnovers (17-9) and 3 more steals (9-6).  5 of their turnovers came from Bazemore, who earned a technical for dissing a ref, and 5 by Curry.  10 for those two combined vs 9 total for the Celtics.  We did well, especially having to go so deep into the bench without our 3 key players.

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
yesterday
Celtics win their 6th straight...in 10 days they've gone from 8th into sole possession of 4th in the East. 4. BOSTON 31-26 5. Atlanta 30-26 6. New York 30-27 --------------- 7. Miami 28-28 8. Charlotte 27-28 9. Indiana 26-29

6 straight wins for us is the longest current hot streak in the NBA.  We are 8-2 in our last 10 games.  We are now in 4th place by 1/2 game over Atlanta, who plays Indy at home tonight.  Let's all root for the Pacers and hope for the best.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401307654


Bob


.

I really think they just said Let Curry go off, hold others at bay, and finally start hitting shots. I felt really good when they went off the floor at half time. They had cut the lead to 6 and were feeling much better about themselves. True this was a super star against superstar game Curry may have had more points but Tatum won the game and played the game magnificently. Walker had 26 points, hitting that big 3 at the end of the game

In an interview of Celtics Postup, Walker admitted that this is the best he has been playing for the Celtics. Whatever they are doing, keep doing it. He does not have to score all the time to be effective, he has been taking charges since he came here, and his assists are sometimes awesome. He is getting the ball to the open man. Think Marcus has rubbed off on him?

I can hope now that he played one game on short notice, that Parker will feel comfortable with this group, that they will help him and maybe he will come close to his ability. Sounds like they just wrote him off in Sacto. Upgrade???? For Sure. Wagner was totally confused on the floor.
Again, Kornet, in short minutes, played great fill in basketball You can tell there is effort out there

I am excited for the games to come, for our team to be healthy, and show that they are not a bunch of overpaid young stars. Without Jaylen, Williams and Fournier, this was ipressive

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I really think they just said Let Curry go off, hold others at bay, and finally start hitting shots.  I felt really good when they went off the floor at half time.  They had cut the lead to 6 and were feeling much better about themselves.  True this was a super star against superstar game Curry may have had more points but Tatum won the game and played the game magnificently.  Walker had 26 points, hitting that big 3 at the end of the game  

In an interview of Celtics Postup, Walker admitted that this is the best he has been playing for the Celtics.  Whatever they are doing, keep doing it.  He does not have to score all the time to be effective, he has been taking charges since he came here, and his assists are sometimes awesome. He is getting the ball to the open man. Think Marcus has rubbed off on him?

I can hope now that he played one game on short notice, that Parker will feel comfortable with this group, that they will help him and maybe he will come close to his ability. Sounds like they just wrote him off in Sacto.  Upgrade???? For Sure.  Wagner was totally confused on the floor.
Again, Kornet, in short minutes, played great fill in basketball  You can tell there is effort out there

I am excited for the games to come, for our team to be healthy, and show that they are not a bunch of overpaid young stars. Without Jaylen, Williams and Fournier, this was ipressive

+1

I totally agree.  What an exciting game to watch!  

I am experiencing a little post Pfizer 2nd shot tiredness and I am just feeling a bit off for the last couple of dayze (LOL).  Nothing else, that's the worst of it, so I am lucky in that way.

Anyway, I stayed up and watch the entire game.  Boy was it worth it!!  I hope this is an example of how the C's will play as this season winds down.

Still waiting for a doctor approval to get the shot. I have a multitude of allergies and issues. After the cath last year I bottomed out, that was enough to shake my heart doctor up. After that I got a reaction to a couple more drugs, to add to the long list I already have, so, I will check with the lupus doctor in May, see what he has to say and go from there. I may have to go to an allergist to make sure I can handle it. Needless to say, since I hardly go out right now, I am in no hurry to get it. Both of them said "if there is anyone who will get a reaction it will probably be you!!" so here I sit. My husband had the Pizer shots. He just felt exhausted, especially after the second one. But nothing else. Lucky him!!

My two weeks after the second shot is up today. A darn good feeling to have that finally complete.

Hope all works out for you Rosalie and everyone else. May this year be about good health for all of us.