Final: Warriors 117, Celtics 112 - Lack of rebounding dooms Celtics down the stretch

BOSTON CELTICS (7-1) vs. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS 

TD Garden, 7:30 p.m. - ESPN, NBCS Boston

Line: Boston -6.5

INJURIES

Boston: Kristaps Porzingis (OUT, ankle), Jaylen Brown (OUT, hip)    

Golden State: De’Anthony Melton (OUT, back)

THINGS I’M LOOKING FOR

1. Test their defense: The Warriors have the league’s second-best defense here in the early going. Obviously, there are wild swings at this point of the season, and a couple of early blowouts of the Jazz and Pelicans have kept their defensive rating pretty low. So let’s see how the Warriors’ handle their first real test of the season. Boston has the best offense in the league, so do what makes it number one and see if tugging at one of these strings can unravel the whole thing. 

2. Play with focus: I know everyone on the outside is thirsty for vengeance because Steve Kerr didn’t really play Jayson Tatum in the Olympics. The building will certainly be buzzing and I expect Kerr to be lustily booed. However, Tatum made it clear after the Grant Williams stuff that he isn’t trying to get caught up in extraneous stuff like this. 

“I don’t ever make it about one person,” he said. “I come out and play the right way. It’s not about the matchup or anything. Just come out and try to dominate and give my team the best chance to win. And playing the right way, whether that’s scoring, rebounding, screening for other guys. The objective is to give us the best chance to win.”

I don’t know what to make of the revenge aspect. I do know that, as I wrote the other day, the best revenge is a life well-lived. Just go play Celtics basketball and the revenge part will take care of itself. 

3. Defending Steph Curry: He’s such a unique challenge, but I’m not as concerned with his 3-point shooting as I am about his dribble penetration and assists making others better. Boston allows a ton of dribble penetration right now so they're going to have to cut that water off to limit the Warriors offense.

Follow along with my thoughts as the game goes on. They’ll show up below and in the comments section, so hop in and share your opinion as well.