BSJ Game Report: Golden State Warriors 111, Celtics 107 - C's came back, fought hard, but didn't have enough to beat Warriors, Steph Curry

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics 111-107 Golden State Warriors with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL…

The Celtics fell behind by 20 early in the game but fought their way all the way back to take a lead in the fourth quarter. The Warriors, though, proved too much for the shorthanded Celtics who were a few bounces (and free throws) away from pulling a big upset.

Box Score

HEADLINES

Free throws really hurt: The Celtics were 20-29 from the line for a not-so-nice 69%. Losing by four, you look at the things you could have controlled first before anyone starts blaming the officials. The Celtics leaving nine points at the line is brutal.

Andrew Wiggins killed them early: So much focus is on Steph Curry for obvious reasons, but Wiggins has had enough big games where teams should know by now that leaving him alone will hurt. He got going against some smaller Celtics defenders and then he bombed away from deep to finish with 27 points on 11-20 shooting (5-7 3pt). 24 points came in the first half.

"Wiggins got going a little bit there, I didn’t love our physicality on him, let him walk into a lot of 3’s," Ime Udoka said "We didn't pick him up with the same urgency we had with Curry to start."

No moral victories, but…: Personally I hate the “no moral victories” attitude. We’ll save that part for later. For now, I’ll just say the Celtics fought well but you simply can’t make any mistakes against the Warriors. The Warriors are really damn good and the Celtics aren’t good enough to withstand the loss of a starter and two key rotation pieces, and then another (Romeo Langford) mid-game. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics were within two (97-95), with 5:56 to go. By 4:25, it was 105-95, and that 10 point lead was just too much for the Celtics to overcome. An offensive foul by Josh Richardson at the 5:00 mark was a killer. Who knows what a Celtics answer to that first Warriors basket would have done. 

SECOND GUESS

This is tough because Ime Udoka had few options, but Enes K. Freedom really should not see the floor unless he’s one of the last five guys available against the Golden State Warriors. This is just not the matchup for him. He did grab some rebounds, but he was also at the center of some bad defensive breakdowns.

FOUR UP 

Marcus Smart: Another 8 assists as the starting point guard and he was attacking off the dribble. Toss in some signature Smart plays and he had a really good night. The obvious outlier is the foul he committed at the end of the first half, which was both a tough call and a bad decision. I get that it’s Curry, but there's no need to be that aggressive on a heave. That call is never made, and it probably shouldn’t have in this case either, but also don’t tempt fate. That led to an Udoka tech that turned into four free points with a tenth of a second on the clock.

Jaylen Brown: He seems to be more of himself in his return from the hamstring. He hit half his shots and 5-7 from 3 on his way to a 20 point night. The 5 turnovers were bad though, including one on an inbounds pass that was an utter brain fart. However, he and Tatum seem to be finding a better groove with one another. 

Jayson Tatum: He would have liked a couple more 3-pointers to fall, but 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists is a nice night for him. This crosscourt pass to Aaron Nesmith for 3 was unreal. 

Josh Richardson: He hit his first 4 3-pointers and kept the Celtics close early on, especially in that second-quarter run that cut a 20 point lead down to 10.

TWO DOWN

Payton Pritchard: He didn’t hit either of his shots and he was picked on defensively. He did have 3 assists in limited time. He needs to get more playing time to find a groove.

Enes K. Freedom: You can just re-read what I said before.

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- The Celtics have to stop burying themselves. The Celtics lost by four to the best team in the league without a few very important players. In the grand scheme of things, this was always going to be a tough one for them. 

But they certainly had opportunities to win, and there is a very valid criticism of the team’s early performance. 

“Today was really 50/50 balls, loose balls, long rebounds that they got,” Udoka said. “I think even the first possession of the game they got three or four tips at it and then got a basket on their first possession. … it wasn't about scoring or slow start offensively. I think it was more so our defense and the hustle plays where they out-hustled us, basically.”

That's not great, especially after three days off. Regardless of who’s available, hustling for those loose balls and rebounds should be standard. 

The Celtics need to eradicate this bad habit if they're going to do anything. Forget talent and injuries and all that other stuff. Those 50/50 balls need to go Boston’s way more often than not. 

To their credit, they did in the second half. Which the Celtics won by 10. It’s in there. They just need to do it. 

- Still, it’s hard to come out of this loss feeling bad. This wasn’t a bad effort overall. They are showing progress. The Warriors are really, really good. The Celtics aren’t. The right team won.