BSJ Game report: Celtics 121, Warriors 118 (OT) - Tatum, Brown get hot in time to steal 8th straight win

Everything you need to know about the Celtics overtime win over the Golden State Warriors, with BSJ insight and analysis. 

IN A NUTSHELL

The first half was mostly a close battle with Al Horford, Marcus Smart, and Robert Williams doing most of the scoring against Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole. Jaylen Brown looked out of sorts for most of his return, and Jayson Tatum was just cold. The Celtics did open up a 10-point lead but the Warriors erased that and went up 1 on Curry heave at the halftime buzzer. The Warriors opened up their own double-digit lead, 11, in the third, but offensive rebounding kept Boston close. Tatum and Brown woke up a bit in the fourth quarter, enough to tie the game but a series of turnovers and misses cost Boston a chance to win in regulation. The overtime belonged to Boston, though, with the Celtics using an 8-0 run to build a lead big enough to last until the final buzzer.

Box Score

HEADLINES

It's a win, and that's what matters: It's a good thing there are no style points in the NBA. The Celtics turned it over 17 times (7 belonged to Tatum, and it felt like almost all of them happened in clutch situations) and they shot 39.8% overall, but they held on to get the win. The impressive part about this is not letting the self-inflicted wounds become fatal ones. We can argue they did everything they could to lose, but the Warriors weren't exactly closers down the stretch.

“It just felt like a high-level basketball game with two really really good teams throwing haymakers at each other," Joe Mazzulla said. "And I think once you get into that situation, your situation is  like ‘alright, well, we might as well, might as well do it.’ And so that's where I thought our guys did a great job just kind of responding.”

STEPPING UP WHEN IT MATTERS: Brown was not good for most of the game and Tatum was super cold for just about all of it, but the Celtics outscored the Warriors by 11 over the final 6:10 of regulation and the overtime, and Brown and Tatum combined for 21 points on 7-12 shooting, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists. Yes, Tatum had 3 bad turnovers in that span, but when it came time to hit shots, the two stars found a way to hit them. 

SUPPORTING CAST STEPS UP: Horford got things started with a big first quarter. Robert Williams owned the second quarter thanks to being a monster on the boards. Marcus Smart shouldered the load in the third. They combined for 44 points on 18-31 shooting up until that final kick where Tatum and Brown took over. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics went on an 8-0 run starting at the 2:23 mark of the overtime to turn a 111-110 deficit into a 118-111 lead. It was just enough to hold on for the win because a late turnover allowed the Warriors to cut the lead down to 3, but the next time they got the ball, the best they could muster was a Poole half-court heave. 

FOUR UP

Al Horford: He was a monster early in this game, and then he hit some clutch 3-pointers late in the game. Horford was amped for this one, and it showed in an early chasedown block. 

"I'm out there competing and this type of game, at least to me, it felt like a playoff-type game," Horford said. "the intensity, that's what I mean by it. Those type of plays are important and it's just trying to win."

His play is inspiring to the rest of his team. 

"I think what stood out most for Al was how young he looks," Smart said. "Al's what 37, 36, one of those, and he looks he's 25. It's kind of hard for us to go out there and bring that energy when we see Al doing it at his age and the way that he goes about his business in this profession. So for us, it's huge. And I think with Al having that energy, he gave us all that energy."

Horford finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. 

Robert Williams: He was vacuuming up every Celtics miss, grabbing 7 offensive rebounds on his way to a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double. 

Marcus Smart: 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists for Smart, who was left open as the Warriors focused a lot of their energy on Tatum. Smart responded with a good shooting game, but importantly, he didn't let that early scoring lead to a ton of bad shots. He picked up all his assists after halftime. This play was a great example, and it was the beginning of that late fourth-quarter kick where Boston was +11

Jayson Tatum: He did not shoot well (9-27, 4-13 3pt), but he managed to get to the line 12 times and he hit them all, he grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds, and he had 6 assists, and 3 steals. 

The 7 turnovers were bad. They almost cost Boston the game. That's something that can't keep happening. But he didn't have a bad game, he had a bad shooting night. 

TWO DOWN 

Derrick White: I honestly don't think he played poorly, necessarily. I'm surprised he had zero points, but not surprised he managed to be a +4 on the night. Still, 0-6 from the field is 0-6 from the field. 

Jaylen Brown: He was great for the final 11 minutes of the game. He was terrible for the first 37 of them, especially the first half. He was forcing his offense, and I think to the detriment of the team. He was searching hard to find his rhythm and it ended up finding him late in the game. To his credit, he hit the shot that sent the game into overtime. 

"It was relief not for the individual reason that I made a game-tying shot. Now we got another chance to win it in overtime," Brown said. "Games feel a lot worse when you're not playing to your standard and you lose. When you figure out a way to win and you're working yourself back into the lineup, things feel a lot different when you win."

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Give Tatum a day off in Toronto

The man played 48 minutes. 

"I just feel like that's what the game needed at the time," Mazzulla said. "I felt like we were in a good spot, I felt like he was in a good spot. I felt like regardless of whether he was in or out of the game, he was competing at a high level on both ends. And I just thought that's what the game needed at that time.”

They have a tough back-to-back against Orlando and Miami, and I'd rather see him on the floor for those two games. The Celtics should be able to beat the Raptors with Brown as the top option and plenty of minutes for White, who only played 17:28. 

There's ZERO need to play him against Toronto. 

- I hope this win calms them down should these two teams meet again

The way things look now, it'd be a surprise to see the Warriors in the Finals, but they weren't exactly the consensus pick last season either and the West is wide open. 

So should that happen again, I hope this is one of those games where they can look back and recognize that while they can claim some poise in order to keep fighting and pull away late, they can also point to some breaks and lack of execution from the other side as well. 

The late turnovers were a bit much. I hope winning a game like this makes them understand how much they got away with some really rough mistakes. Slow down a little next time and just make a solid play. No matter who they face if they make the Finals, it'll take a lot more poise to close out these games. 

Next up: The Raptors Saturday night in Toronto to start a three-game road trip.