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Warriors crush Celtics, 101-83


OAKLAND, Calif. — Getting beat soundly by the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night was bad. A change of venue and opponent didn't do the Boston Celtics much good as the Golden State Warriors delivered the C's a second straight loss, 101-83.

Boston (14-15) is now below-.500 for the first time since Nov. 9.

After falling behind by as many as 20 points, the Celtics mounted an unexpected rally at the end of the third quarter.

Capping off the run was a put-back basket by Jared Sullinger following a missed free throw by Brandon Bass.

Sullinger's basket cut Golden State's lead down to just 76-67 going into the fourth quarter which was as close as the C's had been since the early moments of the second quarter.

Boston continued to hold their own early in the fourth, but could never get any closer than eight points as the Warriors (21-10) gradually pushed their lead back to blowout status.

Adding to the degree of difficulty on Saturday and possibly going forward is the status of Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo who did not play against the Warriors due to what team officials deemed a right hip injury.

Even with Rondo, the C's would have been hard-pressed to win based on how red-hot the Warriors were in shooting the ball throughout most of the game.

Starting in place of Rondo was Courtney Lee, who continued to deliver some of his best scoring games of the season in a Rondo-less lineup.

He finished with a season-high 18 points along with five rebounds.

But this game was all Warriors who snapped a three-game losing streak to the Celtics in Oracle Arena.

And their success on Saturday was similar to how they have won all season, with contributions coming from many.

Early in the game it was rookie Harrison Barnes who scored seven of the Warrior's first 11 points. His seven points at that time equalled the offensive output of the entire Celtics team.

Making matters worst for the C's was that Paul Pierce was in the throws of a horrible start shooting the ball. He didn't make his first basket until the 2:57 mark of the third quarter after having missed his previous eight shot attempts.

Filling some of the scoring load with Rondo out and Pierce struggling, was Sullinger who had 10 of his 12 points in the first half.

Even with Sullinger off to a strong start, it wasn't enough to make up for the poor play defensively by the Celtics who trailed by as many as 20 points in the first half before Golden State wound up with a 57-40 lead at the half.

The C's made a mini-run in the third which cut Golden State's lead to 13 points, it was soon back to 20 points with few signs of the Celtics doing enough at both ends of the floor to rally for the win.
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ESPNBOSTON.COM

Rapid reaction: Warriors 101, Celtics 83

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Rapid reaction after the Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics 101-83 on Saturday night at Oracle Arena:

THE NITTY GRITTY
Steph Curry scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting (4-of-5 beyond the 3-point arc) with nine assists, while David Lee kicked in 20 points, five rebounds, and four assits for a Warriors squad that has now won 11 of its last 14 games. Harrison Barnes (15 points, 8 rebounds) and Jarrett Jack (14 points) aided the Warriors' outburst, one that saw Golden State shoot a whopping 63.2 percent (12 of 19 overall) beyond the 3-point arc. The Rajon Rondo-less (hip) Celtics got a team-high 18 points from Courtney Lee (who took Rondo's spot in the starting lineup), while Jason Terry (6 of 19) and Paul Pierce (4 of 20) labored from the field while finishing with 13 points apiece.

TURNING POINT
A mere three minutes in, the Warriors embarked on a little 8-2 run to open an early double-digit lead (19-9, 6:51 to go in first quarter). The Celtics made it a one-possession game four minutes later, but it was a fleeting moment. An 11-0 burst by Golden State in the second quater culminated with a Lee layup and a 44-25 lead with six minutes to play in the first half. Boston didn't get closer than eight the rest of the way.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics dipped below .500 for the first time since Nov. 9 when they were 2-3 after a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. No excuses here: Without Rondo, the Celtics offered little resistance. The Warriors shot 51.4 percent from the floor, couldn't miss beyond the arc, and crushed Boston's confidence with every made jumper. Golden State scored a mere 24 points in the paint (the Celtics had 30), which shows just how effective they were with their spot-up shooting. Golden State turned the ball over 18 times (for 22 points) and it didn't even matter. The Warriors led by as much as 22 and were never in danger of letting this one get away from them.

112288

Pierce, Jet and Jeff Green combined: 12 for 50.

Brutal.

Without Rondo and AB we really got outworked and outplayed and outquicked in the backcourt....we need these 2 guys back in the worse way. Pierce and KG got their butt kicked rather handily- who says were all homers. That score was reflective of the overall butt kicking, if we played this team without Rondo and AB in a 7 game series, they'd sweep us.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Without Rondo and AB we really got outworked and outplayed and outquicked in the backcourt....we need these 2 guys back in the worse way. Pierce and KG got their butt kicked rather handily- who says were all homers. That score was reflective of the overall butt kicking, if we played this team without Rondo and AB in a 7 game series, they'd sweep us.

If we had Rondo and AB in a 7 game series against them and they didn't have Curry and Thompson, we'd sweep them.

....well at least Heat lost

cowens/oldschool wrote:....well at least Heat lost

Anybody else watch the end of the Knicks/Kings game last night? Absolutely amazing. Knicks were down 27 in the third, incredibly came back to take a five point lead in the final minutes, Kidd made two horrible turnovers at the end and the Kings got the ball back for one last possession down two points. They missed a shot with about six seconds to go, got the rebound, made a few quick desperation passes as the final seconds ticked away and it got to James Johnson (even his relatives don't know who he is), who was 0 for 11 on threes for the season and he buried a trifecta as the game clock expired. Knicks lose by one and leave the court absolutely stunned. Crowd goes wild.

Loved it.

I thought this was a Celtics board?

didn't see that game Steve, besides GSWarriors being so much improved, that Bucks team is tough too, Larry Saunders can ball, hes really coming into his own, those games vs KG were no fluke. Jennings and Monta Ellis is a fast energetic young backcourt, if those 2 are on, anyone is in for a dogfight.

I guess I'll have to start watching college games closely. Celtics better bet as a lottery team. Making the playoffs the C's would embarass themselves. Most of Ainge's moves are making him the basketball version of Tannenbaum & Rex Ryan. Too bad the Celtics don't have the Spurs GM. The Spurs know where to find talent and how to blend youth and experience. I wonder if there are any Anthony Davises in this year's one and done class. This year's team has about as much chance for success as Romney did of beating Obama in this age of entitlement. Oh well maybe Ainge can go work for Romney. Don't know what will happen to Doc. This team has tuned him out like the kids tune out AM radio.


MD!

MD

I'm a legit NYer, its not near as bad as Jets and Rex Ryan, who are huge jokes and ineptitude all across the board, this team needs some help, players have to step up, all of them, we need Avery Bradley in the worst way, this team could still gel at some point, its a marathon....with some tweaking, lets see where we are in April.

cow

Cow,

It's Bills vs. Jets in the "Irrelevant Bowl" today.

Not easy being a Bills or Jets fan. You're right; the Celtics problems are minor in comparison.

Regards

Due to a previous commitment I was only able to watch the 2nd half. Can you believe that? The one time the Celtics play my local team in my timezone and I only get to watch 24 minutes of ball. Women! Can't live with them, can't stuff them in the trunk of your car
and take them over state lines to meet Jimmy Hoffa...

1. A lot of non-calls. You have to play how the refs are calling the game, not how you think the refs should call the game. To give GSW credit, they also had a lot of very quick hands to legitimately strip the ball on drives to the hoop.

2. Having Rondo might have helped to improve our 36% fg%, but I don't know how much it would have helped to reduce their 52% fg%. Considering they shot 63% (an eFG of 94%!) from 3 we're lucky to have been anywhere near them.

3. The NBA is a jumpshooting league now (as opposed to when dinosaurs like Moses Malone, Ewing and Artis Gilmore walked the earth) and we don't have enough jump shooters. The strategy of "we don't need you to score, we have Pierce, JET etal, we need you to play defense or rebound or set picks or..." isn't working. Evidence for the prosecution is the shooting of our top scorers last night. Awful. NYK is loaded with shooters. LAC is loaded with shooters. GSW is loaded with shooters. OKC is loaded with shooters. Miami is loaded with shooters. I've just named some of the top teams in the league. The only team that in that top tier that I can think of that is not loaded with shooters is San Antonio and they're a throwback.

4. Courtney Lee looked good in the half I saw. It's just one game, and he started and he might not do that again, but it makes him look like a big game player and that is good.

5. Is anybody else starting to lose their patience with JET? He's shooting 43% on the season. He is scoring at the worst ppg/36 minutes since his rookie season. It is his worst season in assists, and that includes his rookie season. He has had a few decent games but none that made your eyes pop open and a bunch where he looks like he just took his first jump shot last week.

6. So, our playmaker is out, Pierce can't shoot for shit but he doesn't switch to playmaker? He has said that he goes out and tries to give the team what they need on any given night. Well, Paul, we needed a floor general last night, not a Me-baller.

We had a nice rally, a very nice rally, to cut their 20 point lead down to 2 or 3 possessions.

We're without Rondo and our thinness at that position was obvious. I would love to know what is going on with Barbosa, we sure could have used another guard last night. Weren't we supposed to be crazy deep in guards? Bogut is still out. Bogut isn't to GSW what Rondo is to us, but they have been playing without their starting center all year.

Let's hope Sacto is still on cloud 9 after beating the Knicks. An 0-3 road trip would truly suck.


bob


.

To anyone:

It's heartening to remember that previous Celtics teams have worked hard to overcome adversity rather than to opt for committing mass suicide. There's every likelihood that this year's team will follow suit. It's too bad that some who call themselves fans haven't the stomach to take a leap of faith and follow the lead of the players who never quit on themselves.

Sam

Here's the column in SFGate, the online version of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Warriors small forward Harrison Barnes promised head coach Mark
Jackson before the season that he’d be ready for games against Miami’s
LeBron James and Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant.

Apparently, Boston’s Paul Pierce was on the rookie’s “big-game list,” too.

Barnes played arguably his most aggressive and complete game since
mid-November, outplaying the future Hall of Famer and instigating the
Warriors’ 101-83 victory Saturday night in front of Oracle Arena’s fifth
consecutive sellout crowd.

The Warriors (21-10) have won 14 of their past 18 games and completed
a 12-win December that tied the franchise record set in 1961. During
their West Coast era, the Warriors have won 12 games in any month only
four times and haven’t done it since going 13-4 in March 1976.

The Celtics (14-15), who had beaten the Warriors in seven of the
teams’ past eight meetings, were playing without NBA-assist-leader Rajon
Rondo because of a bruised right hip. Though the Warriors were the team
playing a back-to-back, Boston was the one that looked old and tired.

Especially when compared to the 20-year-old Barnes, whose fresh legs
and athleticism bothered Pierce all night. Pierce missed his first eight
field-goal attempts and finished with 13 points on 4-of-20 shooting.

Barnes responded to playing only 16 minutes in each of the past two
games by rediscovering some aggression. He had 15 points on six
field-goal attempts and added eight rebounds to the energetic defense he
displayed throughout his 25 minutes.

After averaging only 6.3 points on 31.8 percent and 2.3 rebounds
during the past six games, Barnes seemed to make a point of looking for
his shot early against Boston. It was one of the first times he wasn’t
noticeably deferring to his more experienced teammates since a 20-point,
12-rebound night in Dallas on Nov. 19, and it ended up opening things
up for his teammates.

Stephen Curry went for 22 points and nine assists, David Lee had 20
points, five rebounds and four assists, Jarrett Jack chipped in 14
points and four assists, and Klay Thompson added 13 points and six
rebounds. Boston was led by Courtney Lee’s 18 points and put in a hole
by Pierce, Jason Terry and Jeff Green, who combined to go 12-of-50 from
the floor.

The Warriors, who went 7-11 against Eastern Conference teams last
season, moved to 13-2 against the east this season – having lost only to
the Orlando Magic. For the 11^th time this season, they
outshot, outrebounded and out-assisted an opponent on the same night.
They haven’t completed the trio more times in a full season since
2007-08, when they did it 12 times in their last winning season.

The Warriors didn’t miss a field-goal attempt until a Thompson
floater went awry 4 ½ minutes into the game. They made six of their
first seven shots as the Celtics double-teamed Curry and he picked them
apart for a 19-9 lead.

Pierce missed his first eight shots but kept chucking until the
Warriors built a 20-point, second-quarter lead. Curry had eight assists
to Boston’s seven by the half, mostly because of the four he distributed
during a 17-5 run that gave the Warriors a 50-30 lead with 4:39
remaining.




bob




.

Sam,

Just a question. How long (time wise) do you define "every likelihood" before it becomes apparent this team is not jelling and playing Celtic basketball.

Or do you define it by number of wins, or how they execute, and how effective their execution is even if they lose tight games.

112288


112288

112288,

No mystery. I've been saying for some time, "See me in April." In that statement, I'm not predicting anything. I'm simply saying that there's lots of time before anything absolutely has to "become apparent" in terms of jelling. If you want proof of that wisdom, contact all the ill-advised people who prematurely predicted doom for the Celtics during each of the past two seasons.

I'll leave any definition of what constitutes "not jelling" to the Celtics braintrust. Many, many things can happen between now and the end of the season.

For example, Tom Heinsohn was talking, last night, about that fact that we may very well be witnessing a "changing of the guard," in which bench guys like Green, Lee and Sullinger could gradually be earning more responsibility while concurrently taking more of the load off KG and Paul Pierce. Maybe Tom is right, and maybe he's not; but he felt that last night's game was the first time he had sensed that possibility. Would you suggest that we set 1:47 am four days hence to judge the validity of that hypothesis?

Moreover, there will be the integration of Avery Bradley into the lineup. Can you tell me, definitively and precisely, how much Avery might improve and suggest an exact date and time when any such improvement should be judged to be "complete?"

Moreover, there is always the possibility of a trade for a big man and even the acquisition of a backup point guard.

Moreover, I won't be shocked (although it's not a prediction) if Lee wound up ahead of Terry on the depth chart because (as long as Lee doesn't try to become the gunner Terry is from behind the three point line), Lee has a much more diversified and potentially consistent offensive game (from mid-range, in penetration, and in transition) and a far better defensive game.

Moreover, Sully is still improving—and fairly rapidly at that.

These are just some of the factors that could potentially come into play. There are many more. Unfortunately, there are also negative possibilities known as injuries.

Given all that could transpire between now and playoff time, I'd have to be a simpleton to set some arbitrary time limit as to when potential jelling is deemed to have occurred or not to have occurred. I wouldn't consider myself to be a knowledgeable fan if I succumbed to such a form of premature release.

Sam

Sam,

I did not get the Boston feed last night however I was thinking the same thing. We closed the gap with the second unit on the floor and showed some grit in the process.

Maybe just maybe we are rebuilding the team on the fly in which case I would be satisfied and would not have higher expectations. However Danny built the team up with too much hype in the beginning of the season.

If I were the Celtics.......we DO NO TRADE Melo, Sully, Joseph and Bradley. That will be your new team in 2 years. Off season I would sign a 2 bigs...center and power forward and a shooting guard. We can tweak now with some smaller trades perhaps Bass or the Jet...maybe Lee ...however I love the defensive effort he is putting out and his scoring is coming around.

112288

Sam-I watched Tommy last night and every night recently. Tanquay is constantly asking him when Danny is going to make a move. Pretty soon you
are going to see an explosion there. His feeling is, WHO IS OUT THERE THAT THEY WOULD TRADE FOR??? DeMarcus Cousins, please, a head case and a half. They would want Sully and Bradley, someone even suggested Rondo on another website. People are going nuts!!

I am a huge Patriot fan. Last week after New England barely beat Jacksonville, Tom Brady shut the door to the locker room and it has been reported that he blew his stack, telling every player there that they should be embarrassed to have played a game like that.

It is time for KG and Pierce to do exactly the same thing. Last night on the court, there was a play where Green was completely out of place. The next thing I saw was KG, mad as heck, pushing him into the spot where he should be. This whole debacle has got to be eating him alive. I really think it is time for these guys to be embarrassed by the future HOF'ers. There just is not enough will to win in this group. Maybe trading someone they
don't expect is the answer. I don't know, but I have never been so disappointed in a group of "so called" talented basketball players on my
Boston Celtic team.

Just a bunch of ramblings, but I will not give up, I will tell you that.

Rosalie

Rosalie......GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great game today!

112288