Can the undermanned Warriors team defeat the Boston Celtics in TD Garden?

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During the early years of the clickbait and search engine optimization era in which we all still reside, British journalist Ian Betteridge observed something funny about a certain way that editors try to attract views and clicks. He suggested that, “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” This sentiment proved to be correct so often that it is now known as Betteridge’s Law. In keeping with the law, the answer to the question posed by the headline is no, Golden State was summarily dispatched by Boston last night on the East Coast. And even if a different question was substituted instead, given the outcome in Massachusetts, the answer would remain the same.

Are the remaining healthy Warriors good enough to regularly compete with title contenders? Even following landmark wins against the Nuggets and Rockets over the last month, the answer is still generally no.

Did the return of Jason Tatum disrupt Boston’s elite chemistry and the ascension of Jaylen Brown as a superstar? Nope.

Would Kristaps Porzingis’ first start as a Warrior and looser minutes restriction be enough to lift his new team over his old? Once again, it was not.

However, there is one question that the Dubs answered in the affirmative last night. Is it possible for a 21 point loss to feel like a positive thing? Yes. Yes it is.

Over the last 19 games without Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry, the Warriors have suffered some truly devastating losses to teams actively trying to lose. But as discussed following one of those losses to the Bulls, it’s hard to be too upset when considering the percentage of the team’s salary cap out with injuries and the record inertia that will prevent the Warriors from climbing above, or falling out of the Play-in Tournament.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t difficult to watch the team shoot 40% from the field and 23% from three for the competitive portion of the game, or be mostly helpless to guard elite scoring wings, all of which was true on Wednesday. How exactly then, is a blowout defeat featuring four and a half minutes of garbage time and affirming the chasm between the Dubs and true contention a good thing?

The answer to that question comes less in terms of anything quantifiable or sustained and more in fleeting moments of potential and a general positive aura. The game actually started well, with the Warriors taking the first lead behind an incredible sequence that showcased Kristaps Porzingis on both ends.

As he’s gotten his legs under him, the agility and quickness at his size which earned KP the Unicorn moniker in the first place has started to flash. The health caveat will always remain gargantuan and gnarly, but the visual evidence is growing that he can still be a game breaking player and the kind of talent the Warriors need to remain relevant. The biggest positive thing about KP on display in this game was his intelligence and basketball feel. He makes quick decisions, sees the floor really well and is already showing good chemistry with Draymond on offense.

This is the kind of play that doesn’t look like much, but not all star players are willing or able to ride the catalyst of Draymond’s passing, vision and selflessness so seamlessly.

More generally, the professionalism and fight of the team was inspiring and made even a poor result more palatable, even enjoyable in stretches. There was no singular Boston avalanche (the longest run in the game was 10-0), the Celtics slowly stretched their lead through their superior talent, and when the margin hit 20 points in the 2nd quarter the Warriors made an admirable push to cut it all the way down to seven. Most of the game hovered in a competitive state with a double digit Boston lead that never felt insurmountable. Against a largely healthy team that is nearly leading the Eastern Conference and just added a superstar, this was a commendable performance and an acceptable loss on the road.

Other positive aspects of the game include Gary Payton and Pat Spencer’s team-high 14 points off the bench and Quinten Post starting to find his shooting stroke again. But after the sugarcoating, it is important to acknowledge the limitations and deficiencies which caused the L to be added to Golden State’s record at the end.

Firstly, the Warriors’ four best shooters (Curry 30, Curry 31, Moses Moody and LJ Cryer) didn’t play in this game, but the rest of the roster is just not good enough at the most important skill in the game.

As the team has found viable stretch fives, the paint has been sufficiently opened up and the Warriors are generating a lot of good looks from three. In fact they’re taking more threes than anyone else in the league. The problem is those looks are going to shooters who average at best, and the shots aren’t coming after the sacrifice of a good shot to make a great one. The ball still moves, but the players don’t cut as much as all five guys are located behind the three point line. The offense feels more static than ever and it was certainly that way against Boston. Draymond had multiple instances of driving a closeout or pushing in transition, the kind of decisiveness and aggression we’ve been begging for, but he was betrayed when no one made the right cut to take advantage.

De’Anthony Melton is great at generating looks for himself and others, but his pull-up three ball has completely deserted him, and anytime he takes an off-the-dribble triple it seems destined to clank harmlessly off the rim. Even worse than Melton’s 1-for-6, Brandin Podziemski was 1-of-7 from downtown with some truly awful misses. Pretty soon there won’t be any other choice but to acknowledge that Podz is a bad shooter, something he was supposed to be elite at in college.

While they’re definitely guards instead of true wings, Melton and Podz being the best available players at their positions highlighted another way the Warriors need to get better. The holy grail of the entire NBA is players 6’6”-6’9” who can shoot better than 37% from distance, are agile enough to defend guards and strong enough to hold up against their fellow forwards. They were the underrated key to the Warriors titles (Harrison Barnes, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Andrew Wiggins, Otto Porter Jr., even Brandon Rush and Justin Holiday) and even with every team in the league coveting this archetype the Celtics have somehow spawned their own horde of wings.

The Dubs seemed to have found their own version in Gui Santos, and he did a great job against both Tatum and Brown when guarding in space. But Gui really needs to improve his screen navigation because he was taken out of the play every. single. time. by (admittedly great) Neemias Queta screens. Gui has surprising fluidity and change of direction, but maybe the added strength that has helped him so much this year is making it impossible for him to get around screens, and if he can’t do that he can’t be a primary defensive weapon.

Moses Moody has been the Warriors’ point-of-attack answer for most of the season and he does great against players smaller than him, but his frame doesn’t hold enough weight to truly equal someone larger than him, and he can struggle with quickness.

De’Anthony Melton was supposed to be another answer with his Inspector Gadget wingspan, but Wednesday showed he’s too short and not strong enough to truly check someone like Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown. Podz tries his hardest but he’s too small as well. Will Richard has the broad shoulders of someone who could give it a try and he’s got incredible hands, but he doesn’t have the change of direction abilities to survive, let alone smother elite ballhandlers.

This is where one of those other positive notes from Wednesday makes an appearance. It goes without saying that Draymond Green’s greatest strength on defense is his ability to diagnose problems and help his teammates as a rim protector and off-ball antidote to offense. But his agility and one-on-one chops are still world class, and he had the opportunity to show it in TD Garden. With Porzingis behind him protecting the rim and worrying about the other center, Draymond was unlocked to hound the J’s and he did an excellent job, contesting without fouling and forcing a ton of misses. If the Warriors are able to retain Porzingis but aren’t able to find another lockdown wing defender, this could be a good role for Draymond going forwards.

Given the final score, the methodical way that Boston marched to victory, the size and talent disparity even if Steph and Jimmy could have played, it is tempting to see a loss to the Celtics as just another definitive answer to the question of what this season means anymore; nothing. Yet if you’re willing to put on some rose-colored glasses, look between the cracks and imagine this matchup a year from now, there is a chance that it will look a lot more like 2022 than 2026. Will it? Probably not, no. But there’s a way it could and that will have to be enough for now.