BOSTON — Imagine if the Celtics had lost like that last season. At home, against the Warriors, with Steph Curry controlling the fourth quarter and all the clutch moments tilting toward Golden State. The letdown would have brought back nightmares of the 2022 Finals. It would have led to television programs, both locally and nationally, wondering if the Celtics had “it” — the magical ingredient a champion must have.
They would have been bashed in all the most predictable ways: Their crunch-time offense isn’t good enough. They aren’t tough enough. They don’t stay composed enough in tight games. Why would anybody trust them in the biggest moments?
One luxury of the banner now hanging in the TD Garden rafters is that the Celtics no longer need to deal with the angst about whether they have everything it takes to win a title. Otherwise, the way they lost to the Warriors on Wednesday 118-112 would have brought out all of the old critiques.
“We just didn’t make enough plays on (defense) at the end of the game,” said Jayson Tatum.
While losing a seven-point fourth-quarter lead, the Celtics failed to produce a single defensive stop over the final 6:09. They allowed Kevon Looney to score a pair of killer put-back baskets during crunch time, including one that came after the Warriors had another offensive rebound on the same possession. With 4:18 left, Gary Payton II saved a Golden State possession by beating the Celtics to the court for a loose ball. After a timeout, Andrew Wiggins capitalized on the extra chance by drilling a stepback jump shot over the top of Tatum. Later, Tatum made a costly defensive mistake when he lost Buddy Hield for a 3-pointer in the final minute. The Warriors made nine of their final 13 field goal attempts and rebounded all four misses.
“When you have an alertness to Curry, being in shifts, trying to stop him as a team, they do a good job of cutting behind you,” said Joe Mazzulla. “I thought one was off an air ball, one was off a blocked shot, and I thought the Hield one was the toughest one. I thought the other two were a little 50-50, but that’s what happens.”
Plays like that happen. Games like that happen. Now that the Celtics have won a championship, the reactions to every close loss won’t be as visceral. Their disappointment against the Warriors still left a reminder that there’s a price to be paid for failing to take care of the smaller details.
“Every game is a different test,” said Derrick White. “You learn something new from every game. Obviously, they’re a really good team and they’re playing well right now. Saw those little things that we talked about in training camp that came back in and got us at the end of it.”
Warriors’ strategy night and day
In March of last season, Jaylen Brown found the Warriors’ defensive approach against him disrespectful. He sounded shocked that they decided to sag off him even when he had the ball.
Jrue Holiday considered Golden State’s strategy a mind game gone wrong. The tactic, which Brown had no problem beating, also felt like an admission of sorts from the Warriors. Steve Kerr did not believe his defense could stop the Celtics conventionally. He felt the need to resort to a gimmick: the all-out abandonment of an All-Star.
The Celtics encountered no such tricks from the Warriors on Wednesday night, and not just because a hip injury sidelined Brown for the third consecutive game. The Golden State defense, mediocre last season, now ranks as one of the NBA’s best and most disruptive units. As passive as the Warriors were last season in their game plan against Brown, they were just as aggressive against the Celtics while forcing them into their worst first half to date.
“They controlled the physicality in the first half,” said Payton Pritchard. “They were blitzing us, took us out of our rhythm.”
The Celtics shot 35.1 percent from the field while committing 10 turnovers in the first half. Pritchard said his team knew to expect a slew of double teams from the Warriors, but didn’t handle the strategy well early.
“They kind of just had us outside our scoring area,” echoed White. “And we were just kind of like, I don’t know, surprised isn’t the right word but their pressure (impacted the Celtics) and they were blitzing us.”
Golden State closed on a strong run, handing us our first regulation loss of the season.https://t.co/MltyENomxJ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 7, 2024
The Celtics are normally among the NBA’s best at handling double teams. With the number of shooters they employ around their primary creators, plus the willingness of Tatum and others to pass the ball quickly out of traps, a double team against them can sometimes seem like an invitation for them to produce a wide-open 3-pointer. Not so on Wednesday, though, at least in the first half.
“I think they just did a good job of being more physical, and obviously they were blitzing on all of the ball screens I came off,” Tatum said. “We were — or I can speak for myself — a little rushed in the first half, and I think in the second half just accepted it and played with more patience and made the right read more often than not.”
Tatum scored 24 of his 32 points after halftime, including 17 in the third quarter. He and the Celtics took a while to find their offensive rhythm. Mazzulla said the Warriors’ physicality forced the Boston players to fight for their space.
“They have active hands, so I think in the first half, they got a ton of deflections,” Mazzulla said. “They were able to get some stuff there, but I thought we did a better job of handling the physicality in the second half and just have to put — again, we talk physicality, it’s just as much about defense as offense. So it took us a little while to get adjusted to that. Once we did, we executed really well. And then it just came down to a couple possessions at the end.”
(Top photo of Steph Curry driving to the basket against Derrick White: Adam Glanzman / Getty Images)
