Post-Game Thread, vs GSW Away

[bobheckler]

NBA Gamecast


FeedbackBoston Celtics 15-27 at Golden State Warriors 36-6

Final
GOLDEN STATE 114, Celtics 111

RECAP SHOTS GAME FLOW
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson lead Warriors to 19th straight home win
Associated Press


OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden State coach Steve Kerr figured his team was due for an off night after four consecutive blowout wins.

Fortunately for the Warriors, it happened at Oracle Arena, where they haven't lost in more than two months.

Stephen Curry had 22 points and 11 assists, Klay Thompson scored 31 points and Golden State beat the Boston Celtics 114-111 on Sunday night.

"This is the point in the schedule where it gets really difficult to get up emotionally night after night," Kerr said. "For the most part we did our job. We just didn't have a lot of life and legs. It was a night where everybody had to fight through."

The Warriors have won 19 consecutive home games for the longest active home streak in the NBA. Their last loss at Oracle was 113-100 to San Antonio on Nov. 11.

Having that advantage was helpful against Boston.

The Celtics trailed by 10 with 36.3 seconds remaining but closed to 112-109 on Jared Sullinger's layup with 4.6 seconds left.

Thompson, who scored a career-high 52 points against Sacramento on Friday, calmly made two free throws to seal the win.

Andrew Bogut added 13 points and 13 rebounds and Draymond Green had 14 points to help the Warriors to stay unbeaten in 14 games against the Eastern Conference this season. Golden State also improved its NBA-best record to 36-6.

The Warriors had won their previous four games by an average of 26.5 points and maintained a double-digit lead against the Celtics for most of the game until Boston made its late run.

"Now we've got some things to address in practice," Bogut said. "The end-of-game execution wasn't great. We made some bonehead plays the last three or four minutes and let them back into the game."

Sullinger had 26 points and nine rebounds for Boston. The Celtics have lost four of six.

"I thought we did as good a job as you can do probably in half court," Boston coach Brad Stevens said. "We gave ourselves a chance a lot of the time ... but it's hard to guard them for 48 minutes and score on them."

Two nights after scoring an NBA-record 37 points in the third quarter of Golden State's 126-101 win over Sacramento, Thompson was 11 for 19 from the field and 6 for 8 at the line. He had 18 points in the second half.

Curry helped the Warriors keep rolling with his 15th double-double this season.

The leading vote-getter for the All-Star game, Curry scored nine points in the third quarter and had two momentum-shifting plays. The diminutive point guard scored on a baseline dunk and did a pull-up on the rim, and then made a behind-the-back pass to Andre Iguodala for an easy layup.

The Celtics trailed by as much as 10 in the second quarter but closed to 51-49 on back-to-back buckets by Tyler Zeller.

Curry sank two free throws with 7.8 seconds left, and then got three more a few moments later when he tried to beat the buzzer and was fouled by James Young near midcourt. Curry made all three to put the Warriors up 56-49 at the break.

FREE THROW WOES

Stevens insists he's not worried about Boston's free throw shooting, even though the team is struggling at the line. The Celtics made 19 of 27 foul shots and are shooting just 68.3 percent (56 of 82) from the line over their past four games.

"I will not lose one ounce of sleep on free throw shooting," Stevens said. "That stuff works itself out with good shooters and it doesn't with guys who aren't good shooters."

TIP-INS

Celtics: F Kelly Olynyk missed his second consecutive game with a sprained right ankle. ... Boston is still one win shy of 200 against the Warriors. ... Marcus Smart did not attend the game due to personal reasons.

Warriors: Thompson needs 24 3-pointers to move into second place on the team's career chart behind Curry. Thompson has made 677 3s. ... The Warriors are the first team to go 14-0 against the East since the 1971-72 Lakers won their first 19.

UP NEXT

Celtics: At Utah on Monday.



bob



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[kdp59]

Lets see if we can surprise the Jazz (what a silly name for a Salt lake city team) tonight.

if we can take this one and then take care of Philly (I mean Minny)...that would be one FINE west coast trip!

[bobheckler]

Lets see if we can surprise the Jazz (what a silly name for a Salt lake city team) tonight.

if we can take this one and then take care of Philly (I mean Minny)...that would be one FINE west coast trip!

Kdp,

If they beat the Jazz (the one-time New Orleans Jazz, ergo the name) and Minny it would be a west coast 4-1 road trip, including TWO back-back wins with the only loss being to the best team in basketball on their home court (where they have only lost 1 this year, their other 5 losses were road losses.  6 losses total!).

Yes, that would be an exceedingly FINE road trip.


bob


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[Berlin-T]

If we could have hit just half the free throws we missed, we would have won. And if we had just made half the bone-headed passes trying to force the ball inside resulting in turnovers, we would have won handily. I think these two areas do call for special attention regardless of what Stevens says. Our defense is improving because we're playing more vets. The team is staring to develop some good chemistry. I think our future is looking a lot brighter than it did at the start of this very difficult road trip.
I'm for winning now and to hell with the lottery balls. They always fall to Cleveland anyway. We're going to be able to wheel and deal this summer with tradeable draft picks and picking up free agents. No tanking please. Let's roll with this team and see where we end up at season's end.

Berlin-T

[wide clyde]

I have been very impressed with the Celtics on this road trip so far, and expect them to finish it out with two more good efforts against both Utah and Minnesota.

Last night's game was a loss, but it had many good parts of it. The effort and hustle were both good again. The ball moved on offense, defense had a few high spots, etc, etc.

There may have been something to the fact that the Warriors may not have played their best game of the season, but they are still the first place team in the West and also possess the best record in the league. Playing without two rotation players (Olynyk and Smart) may have been the difference in this game.

[mrkleen09]

Last night was fun. The Celtics played with grit and intensity and I love the fight they show every night.

-The Warriors are a very good team, but very reliant on the jump shot. Not sure this is a formula that works in a grind it out 7 game series in the playoffs with the San Antonio or Memphis, but guess we will find out in April and May. As a team they have a bit too much swagger for a group that has won exactly nothing. Again, that is kind of the way modern sports has gone - but I would like to see teams like the Warriors (add the Clippers, Houston to the list) take one step back in terms of humility

-Watching Sullinger push around Green and Speights was a blast. He has a ton of heart, great hands and is strong as a bull. Scalabrine kept telling us how great Green was, meanwhile Sully was abusing him over and over.

-Speaking of Speights, this guy has got to have the worst attitude in the NBA behind DeMarcus Cousins and Lance Stevenson. Relax buddy...you are a 6 ppg scorer.

-AB hit a lot of big shots, as did Turner and Zeller played very solid off the bench.

-Those 5 bullshit Free Throws at the end of the first half were disgraceful, and really upset Coach. As an aside, Stevens has been getting more and more vocal lately - which I really like.

This is a fun team to watch. They are outmatched nearly every night, yet they dont give up. I like the direction things are going and am enjoying the games lately. Well done lads.

[beat]

At one point in the first half we were trailing by 10 and I thought the wheels might be about to come off.......

I flipped channels to something for just a couple minutes and upon returning Sully had just scored to cut it to 3.

We seemed to just do well enough to hang around and that is not going to be enough against the good teams but for now it's about all we can hope for to be in a position with a run at the end to win a few of these.

No KO no Smart.........Smart alone would have gotten into some ones grill and taken away some points.

We are getting there and Berlin......... we are not in Tank mode.

beat

[Sam]

Yet another inch or two in the development of a very competitive team. A lot of energy; a lot of ball movement; nice spacing of the floor; they took 95 shots (the good news) but hit only 43% of them (the bad news). Although the Celtics "held" the vaunted Warriors' perimeter game to 8-23, the Celts' interior defense deteriorated as the game wore on. G.S. won the points-in-the-paint battle, 52-38. And, when they wanted to put the game away in the fourth quarter, they repeatedly went to the pick-and-roll like a hot knife through buttah. The Celts put up the best help defense they're capable of, but most of the Warriors' forays to the hoop in that quarter resulted in field goals or free throws or both.

Kudos to Thompson, even more than Curry, for constantly throwing daggers at the Celts on a wide variety of drives, jumpers, and threes. It became disgusting that most of Clay's shots (even some really difficult ones) hit nothing but net.

BUT, despite all of the above, when it seemed as though the Warriors must be leading by double digits, the scoreboard pretty consistently showed the Celtics hanging in there with a combination of stops and clutch shooting.

Guess who was the only Celtic to score (three hoops) in the first four minutes of the last quarter. I'll give you a hint. Crash!

Then Sully and Turner became the primary scorers, with Bradley and Bass chipping in, as the Celts kept breathing down the Warriors' necks. Although the Celtics had a lousy free throw night in general (7-14 through three quarters), they made 12 of 13 in the fourth quarter. I call that stepping up to the stretch challenge.

Sully is becoming very consistent as a low post scoring threat (26 points last night and a rebounder (9). I could do without his three point attempts (except when he makes them).

Turner had 19 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds in 32 minutes. Yes, he had the obligatory 4 turnovers. Does that stat line remind you of any other floor generals?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm enjoying the minutes distribution Brad is meting out. No Celtic played more than 32 minutes last night. I'm also enjoying the fact that the bench often seems to have more of an advantage over their bench opponents than the Celtics starters have over their starting opponents. (Last night was an exception, as the starters were -1 and the bench was -2.)

I don't believe in moral victories, but I consider this game to be one step in a very long flight of stairs for this team. And it was fun to watch.

Sam

[sinus007]

Hi,
I think that last night Celtics defense kept them close despite a few oopsies.
It looks like a trend, based on the last several games.
And giving some PT to GW only helped it.
As for the refs last night, they looked just ridiculous, especially with that end of 2nd quarter foul.

AK

[worcester]

Yes, this game was fun to watch. I especially enjoyed the NEVER QUIT Churchill-esque attitude of the team. Yes we made some stupid fouls. Yes the refs made some really bad calls at the end of the 2nd Q. Yes our ft shooting sucked for the first 3 Q. Yes Sully tries to take too many 3's (I hate it when he jacks one up early in the shot clock, especially when James Young is standing open to the side) - yes to all those things, but there are so many glimmers of hope. Good attitude. Good spirit.. Good coaching.

Speaking of crazy names...the LA Lakers? How ironic. I know they moved from Minny land of 10,000 lakes, but they're in the middle of a virtual desert now.

[cowens/oldschool]

Sam great and accurate post.

It amazes how competitive we are against elite teams, ex Bulls. We almost had them without Smart and they had Bogut, who did his job against us.

I know alot of people here only like dealing with what we have here in the now, but I would love to see how good this team could have been if we drafted Rudy Gobert. We have legit defense on the perimeter, Gobert would have been huge, making Sully and Bass's life easier in the paint, everybody would have been in a better position.

I can't help liking Sully, the way he bangs and battles, hes a better version of Oakley and Silas, 2 other land locked PF's. We just need Mr Intimadator very badly, why Ainge drafted a soft PF, when we already had Sully annoys me.....we are a young gritty growing team.

cow

[kdp59]

Lets see if we can surprise the Jazz (what a silly name for a Salt lake city team) tonight.

if we can take this one and then take care of Philly (I mean Minny)...that would be one FINE west coast trip!

Kdp,

If they beat the Jazz (the one-time New Orleans Jazz, ergo the name) and Minny it would be a west coast 4-1 road trip, including TWO back-back wins with the only loss being to the best team in basketball on their home court (where they have only lost 1 this year, their other 5 losses were road losses.  6 losses total!).

Yes, that would be an exceedingly FINE road trip.


bob


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yeah I know the Jazz came from NO, but why they still call themselves the Jazz makes no sense.

NO Jazz...yep

Utah Jazz...nope


and yes W...why don't the Laker change their name too.......how stupid...LA Lakers....whats that mean?

call them the LA Amigos (like the old Aniehm team form the ABA).
or the LA movie stars (LMAO)

at least the Clippers are named from a boat (albeit a San Diego one).

Utah should be maybe the Mormons

this needs it's own OFF-SEASON thread I can see that now!


but yeah that's a pretty good road trip for  team that every none Celtic fan seems to think sucks.

LOL

[worcester]

Cow, don't give up on KO yet. He may be useful if we do someday get Mr. Intimidator. What center did we pass up in te draft to get Kelly?
BTW, Zeller did a decent job against Bogut, but clearly we do need help in the middle.

[kdp59]

Cauley- Stein might be a nice pick come draft day.

[cowens/oldschool]

worse we passed on Gobert and Dieng when Danny drafted KO, I've seen enough of Kelly that hes much too porous defensively to be a rotation player.

[Outside]

Didn't see the game, so can't comment on much. Sounds like a nice effort by the Celtics and a down game for the Warriors, who had been blowing teams out.

Starting Friday, the Warriors begin their toughest stretch of the season with 12 of 15 games on the road. They play Boston again in game 14 of those 15.

[worcester]

Cow...a tragedy that Danny passed on 2 good centers for KO. Danny has often passed on good centers. Other than Perk. It's his blind spot.

[cowens/oldschool]

worse he better not draft another shooting guard....guess he thought Kelly could play center?

he was way off.

[worcester]

Maybe Danny thought Kelly was still a shooting guard.

[swish]

If only the crystal ball worked as well looking into the future as the hind sight ball does looking into the past, then drafting could become an exact science.
swish

[mrkleen09]

Never heard of Rudo Gobert. Just looked him up. 7' 2" is impressive but not sure about his stats: Averages 7 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks per game with a worse +/- than Kelly.

What is it you like about this guy Cow?

[cowens/oldschool]

Hes had a few monster rebounding and blocked shot games when Kantor was out, hes a young role player that makes an impact on defense.....we'll see him tonight.

His arm length is ridiculous.

[cowens/oldschool]

He was my pick before that draft, if we had him he'd make Sully so much better.

Put a legit 7 footer like Gobert next to Sully, he could do alot more than Charles Oakley, he'd be a 20-10 beast.

[mrkleen09]

He was my pick before that draft, if we had him he'd make Sully so much better.

Put a legit 7 footer like Gobert next to Sully, he could do alot more than Charles Oakley, he'd be a 20-10 beast.

That is fair. I watch Sully and sometimes it is him against 2 or 3 guys who are all bigger than him, and he still out hustles and toughs them. Sully next to an imposing Center would be a nice front court.

[bobheckler]

I liked Gobert too, he has the biggest wingspan ever recorded at the NBA Draft Combine, but was very concerned about his weight.  He was absolutely rail thin.  I'm talking "If he turned sideways he disappeared" thin.  

But a couple of good games isn't proof he can take 82 games worth of punishment in the trenches.  They like Dieng in Minny but I've seen reports that he is showing signs of wear-and-tear (he's only 245#) as the season progresses and he is averaging slightly under 30mpg.  His 2.1 blocks/36mpg is good but not awesome.

Centers do seem to be Danny's blind spot.  He wants a team of greyhounds and apparently that includes the 5-spot.


bob



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