Curry scoreless from 3
Brown steps up to help Celtics clear hurdle with end-to-end rout
It will be challenging to extract meaning from many of the Celtics’ games down the stretch of this regular season. They have a massive lead in the standings and after this coming week will face a collection of mostly inferior opponents.
But Sunday’s matchup against the Warriors felt important. Two years ago, the Celtics were on the verge of their first NBA title since 2008 before Golden State ripped it away.
When the Celtics marched into Golden State in December with a 20-5 record, they were once again upended despite the fact that the Warriors had struggled against just about everyone else. These Warriors are not title contenders, but they did come into Sunday’s game playing their best basketball of this season.
It felt like there was a mental hurdle to clear. And if this was indeed an issue, it was solved, loudly and fiercely. The Celtics played one of their most dominant games in recent memory, roaring to a 140-88 win, their 11th in a row.
Jaylen Brown had 29 points to lead the Celtics. The Warriors all but dared the All-star to fire away from long range in the opening quarter, backing several feet off of him as he patrolled the arc. He took advantage and scored 19 points, and may have been irritated by the lack of respect. He showed rare bursts of emotion during the first half, whether trying to fire up the crowd heading into a timeout, or yelling and pumping his fist after forcing a backcourt violation against Stephen Curry.
Jayson Tatum, who turned 26 on Sunday, added 27 points, with 20 coming during his dominant second quarter. The Celtics shot 55.2% from the field and 51% from the 3-point line (25 for 49).
Kristaps Porzingis sat out because of a quadriceps contusion.
Curry’s struggles, meanwhile, mirrored those of his team. He had three early airballs and finished with 4 points on 2 of 13 shooting.
Brown started the game by drilling an open 3-pointer from the top of the key. At first that appeared to be just some miscommunication by Golden State, but as the quarter unfolded it began to seem like more of a conscious decision. He looked thrown off by the approach at first, but then settled in and embraced it.
He erupted for three 3-pointers during a stretch of just 40 seconds midway through the quarter. That ignited a powerful surge.
With the score tied at 21, Golden State was held without a field goal for the final 6:05 of the quarter, as the Celtics unrolled a destructive 23-1 run.
The first 12 points came while Tatum was on the bench, continuing an important theme this season following years of the team often crumbling while he sat. The Celtics made 10 of 16 3-pointers in the period and did not commit a turnover, while also limiting Golden State to 8-of-24 shooting.
It was the second game in a row in which Tatum mostly deferred during the opening quarter before asserting himself later.
He found a rhythm by bullying his way to the basket for a few tough layups, then drained three 3-pointers in a row.