The Celtics can still count on Steph Curry for a nightmare, as he showed after he put the NBA’s top team to bed in an overtime thriller that knocked the Jays back to 2022.
Megsplaining: Christmas Music (feat. DJ Bean)
With 11 seconds of free basketball left on the clock, Curry sunk a rainbow three-pointer inches away from his own bench. As he ran back up the court, he folded his hands on the side of his head, taunting Celtics fans who surely cursed themselves for staying up late to watch the late finish from the East Coast.
Night-night, Celtics win streak.
What a harsh wakeup call for the team entering a gauntlet on the West Coast.
The 2023 Celtics have tried to do everything to differentiate themselves from the also-rans of recent years: upgrading their point guard and center, balancing their offensive and defensive efforts, and dictating the pace of the game – particularly when on their home floor. Coach Joe Mazzulla praised their mentality of “Celtics basketball” following a four-game homestand in which they defeated the mighty Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic.
But when it came to facing the big bad boogeyman of the past in sideshow shooter Steph Curry, the Celtics melted into a puddle in the fourth quarter, as best demonstrated during a dismal possession with one minute left in the game, when the Celtics went 0-5 on scoring opportunities. Boston knows from past experiences how tough it is to win that way when Curry goes berserk on the other side.
“We missed 20 layups in that game, and 41 3’s,” Mazzulla said postgame. “And they went on their run in the non-Curry minutes, and they did a good job of getting offensive rebounds, playing in transition.”
But it’s not as simple as being outshot or outrebounded, as the Celtics’ defense inside the arc also collapsed. After the C's started the fourth with an 11-point lead, the Warriors outscored Boston 46-29 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Mazzulla didn’t help his squad by keeping his timeout in his pocket prior to the final possession in regulation.
“We were on the same page. I thought Tatum did a great job coming to get the ball and he was comfortable with the spacing and the opportunity to play on them,” he said, when asked about the decision.
So, the plan was a contested three from a player who limped to the locker room with an ankle sprain in the first quarter? Personally, there’s curiosity here about how plan B would have looked.
It had to hurt to lose against Curry again, and the extra salt in the wound is how unraveled these current Warriors looked prior to the game, with Draymond Green serving an indefinite suspension. Even with Kristaps Porzingis in his delicate figurine case on the bench, there was an opportunity for Boston to show up their former foes, like a freshman who grew six inches over summer break and started lifting weights.
Instead, Curry was the same old upperclassman bully who put their head in the toilet and flushed, again.
The Celtics get no rest in the West, as they immediately face the 16-9 Sacramento Kings. Then it’s onto the Clippers, who are on an eight-game win streak, and the Lakers, who just won the inaugural In-Season Tournament.
Boston remains atop the East and can still use this road trip as an identity-marker. If they win the next three, they can point back to this stretch of heavy competition as a moment in which they calcified their toughness. They’re not just homebodies.
But it’s tough to find a new lesson from the same outcome in San Francisco, other than the alarm sounding that there’s more work to be done.