“Omg[,] Celtics,” Paul Pierce tweeted at halftime.
As the TD Garden crowd returned to their seats after grabbing refreshments at halftime, they likely shared similar reactions upon seeing Steve Kerr and the Warriors wave the white flag, benching Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and the starting unit for the second half.
The decision to throw in the towel was not necessarily hard for Kerr.
“It was either when they went up 42 late in the first quarter or 56 early in the second quarter,” Kerr said when asked about the decision to sit his starters. “Somewhere in that range.”
Behind 47 combined points from Jaylen Brown (25) and Jayson Tatum (22), the Celtics took an 82-38 lead into the intermission. The 44-point margin is Boston’s largest halftime lead in franchise history, beating out the previous high of 39 points achieved in 2007 against Denver and 1987 against Philadelphia.
On the other hand, it was the most points the Warriors have given up in a half this season (82) and the fewest they’ve scored (38).
For the Celtics, it was their most points in a first half since their team-record 85 points in 1982 against the Nuggets.
Boston led by double-digits for all but 7:49 on Sunday evening, as they cruised to a 140-88 victory despite the absence of Kristaps Porzingis. The 52-point victory marked the third-largest winning margin in franchise history for the Celtics and their third 50-point victory this season – an NBA record.
The drubbing left Golden State shocked.
“Boston was amazing. We weren’t beating them today,” Kerr said.
“They came out and whooped us tonight from the jump,” Curry added. “You gotta give them credit.”
Boston stuck with their starters for the first 4:44 of the third quarter before pulling them as the lead ballooned to 52 points.
Golden State entered the afternoon playing some of their best basketball of the season, winning 12 of their last 15 games, including eight straight on the road. However, they were no match for the buzzsaw that is the Boston Celtics.
Gone are the days of the Warriors walking into TD Garden and celebrating on Boston’s floor. Sunday served as another reminder of the tremendous growth of this team and why things genuinely are “#DifferentHere.”
“We handle business and take care of it, but we don’t do it arrogantly. We do it with humility,” Brown said postgame. “It’s a lot of respect for the Golden State Warriors but we feel like it’s our time now.”
Here are three takeaways as the Celtics extend their winning streak to 11 games.
Interesting decision
“We implemented our [defensive] strategy like 15 minutes before we left the locker room,” Draymond Green revealed postgame.
It indeed appeared that way.
Jaylen Brown was just selected to his third All-Star game and entered the night shooting 50.1% from the field, and since the All-Stat break, he has shot 9-of-21(42.8%) from distance. Yet, for whatever reason, the Warriors decided to sag off Brown, inviting him to shoot.
“You try different things,” Kerr said on the thought process postgame. “You have to pick your matchups. We wanted Draymond to be able to help on drives and make sure that we weren’t giving up easy stuff in the paint.”
Brown made the Warriors pay, scoring 19 points in the opening frame on 6-of-12 (50%) shooting from the field and 5-of-9 (55.6%) from distance. Brown is one of just two players in Celtics' franchise history to make at least five three-pointers in the opening quarter, alongside Ray Allen.
When Boston called a timeout right before the six-minute mark, a few teammates, Al Horford and Jrue Holiday, spoke with Brown on the bench, presumably encouraging him to keep shooting, which he did.
Brown buried three consecutive triples out of the timeout, pushing a two-point lead to nine.
“I get to the paint, and I usually open it up for everyone else,” Brown said postgame. “But if you want to dare me to shoot, we can do that, too. I thought it was a little disrespectful. But we took advantage of it, and we didn’t look back.”
By the time the Warriors went to abandon the strategy, it was too late. The Celtics were already humming on both ends of the floor, outscoring the Warriors by 23-3 after that timeout. The rest was history.
“We were really grateful for that. As we talked about, teams are going to guard us in different ways. And we’ve just got to stay open-minded to what gives us the best chance to win. There is a game plan, but when the game starts, the game will tell us what we need to do,” Joe Mazzulla said on the bizarre strategy postgame. “So, I just kept saying ‘Thank you’ and kept empowering Jaylen. Credit to his teammates for empowering him to just continue to play.”
Brown admitted postgame that it was the first time a team had ever done that to him. If other teams were paying attention, it should be the last.
Suffocating defense
While the Celtics put on a near picture-perfect display offensively, piling up 140 points on 53-of-96 (55.2%) and 25-of-49 (51.0%) and 35 assists, their defense may have been more impressive.
The Warriors entered Sunday afternoon seventh in points per game (118.6) and ninth in offensive rating (117.3) but were held to a season-low 88 points - marking just the second time they were held under 100 points.
“They were great,” Kerr said postgame on Boston’s defense. “They were physical right from the start. They were switching. They were putting ball pressure on. They were fantastic. Boston has a hell of a team, and this was a really impressive performance by them on both ends.”
The Warriors shot 36-of-92 (39.1%) from the field and 7-of-41 (17.1%) from deep — their 17.1% shooting percentage from deep set a new season low. Notably, Curry shot 2-of-13 (15.4%) from the field and 0-of-9 from deep.
In the past, the Warriors have given the Celtics problems defensively. That was not the case Sunday evening.
Knockout power
On Friday night, the Mavericks managed to trim the Celtics’ 14-point lead to just two points midway through the third quarter. However, the Celtics didn’t let up. They countered with a 57-31 run to pull away with the win.
On Sunday evening, when the Warriors tied the game at 21 midway through the first quarter, the Celtics responded with a 32-3 run. That run turned into a 61-17 run to end the first half, effectively putting the game away.
Managing runs has been a focal point for Mazzulla and the Celtics, and their ability to excel in this area has been evident repeatedly. This innate knack for shifting momentum will undoubtedly prove invaluable come playoff time.
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