Warriors complete huge comeback over Celtics as Curry puts Boston to sleep

NIGHT NIGHT!

What a gaaaame! The Golden State Warriors defended their home court against the rival Boston Celtics, marching back from a 17-point deficit to break the green team’s heart in overtime 132-126.

This contest had a playoff type atmosphere, with high level basketball being played on both ends. The pendulum of momentum began to swing heavily into the visitors favor during a 14-3 third quarter run that gave them a 87-70 lead, punctuated by an And-1 layup that Brown powered in over Curry to give the befuddled two-time MVP his fifth foul of the game.

Now look, this year’s version of the Warriors has repeatedly driven Golden State fans to the brink of despair. There’s a litany of reasons why this team has underperformed: Injuries, blown leads, former All-Stars getting benched for lackluster play, young players being yanked around in the rotation, and their emotional leader Draymond Green getting banished from the Warriors indefinitely for bullying Europeans.

So when Boston took that 17-point lead in the penultimate quarter last night in front of a nauseous Chase Center crowd, I could see why maybe some members of Dub Nation might have dissapointedly turned off their TVs and spent time with their families to remind themselves that they shouldn’t be so emotionally affected by a basketball game.

But then Brown took it too far. BEHOLD THE HUBRIS OF THE FORMER CAL BERKELEY STUDENT:

Too small?! Look I get that Brown is a burly 6-foot-6, 220 pounds. He’s a larger man than Curry, for sure! Buuut doesn’t he know that spitefully demeaning Golden State for being too small is what got the entire league destroyed when the Warriors created the notorious Small Ball Death Squad???

For backstory, Brown and Curry have an ongoing funny battle of one upsmanship dating back to Brown’s rookie year with the Celtics. Remember when Unanimous told Brown to stop talking after hitting him with a nasty shot back in 2017?

And I’m sure Brown figured with the big lead combined with Golden State’s general malaise this season AND Curry down bad with 5 fouls meant Boston would cruise to their 21st win in 26 games. NOT SO FAST.

The Warriors battled back in a true gritty team effort to send the game into overtime, before Curry finished the comeback with a monster dagger off of a beautiful Chris Paul pass to put the Celtics in the dirt.

NIGHT NIGHT! Curry finished with 33 points and 6 assists.

I wanna take a moment to reflect on the group contributions in this monster prime-time win over the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference.

• Uhhh this Trayce Jackson-Davis rookie tallied a double-double in 29 minutes off of the bench?! 10 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks from TJD including a monster rejection of a vicious dunk attempt from the aforementioned Brown kept the Warriors alive until Curry could finish the job. This youngster just has a preternatural feel of where to be on the court and the physicality to be an intimidator around the rim.

• Jonathan Kuminga, taking the Draymond Green minutes in the starting lineup, was a real problem for Boston last night. He scored 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting with 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Those seven boards a pretty big deal considering he was banished from the playoff rotation last season for not being aggressive on the glass. He also hounded Jayson Tatum, a top-10 player per ESPN, to 0-for-5 shooting when they matched up. Tatum was 5-of-17 from the field overall for 15 points, defanged when Boston needed him most. JUST LIKE THE 2022 NBA FINALS.

• CP3 had 12 assists and 7 rebounds off of the bench in 35 minutes while Moses Moody and Dario Saric all hit double-figures in scoring. Andrew Wiggins was a -10 plus/minus as a reserve but still snagged 7 rebounds in 22 minutes. Something about playing Boston turns Wiggs into a super energetic rebounder.

• Hey, Klay Thompson had 24 points and some clutch three-pointers to support the victorious effort. I thought they said he was washed up?

I’ll end this with an extra long blockquote from a wonderful piece on Celtics Blog by Oliver Fox entitled: “Lessons from Celtics-Warriors: I am afraid of Stephen Curry”.

Am I supposed to revere this man? Am I supposed to be grateful that I lived in the era where I could see this greatness live? I guess I am if you ask half my friends and pretty much every member of the national NBA media. But I refuse to do the obligatory, “man, even though I’m sad we lost I have to respect Curry for that” media tour because this is about something more emotional than respect.

I’ll admit that Curry’s game-killing three at the end of the shot clock with 10 seconds left is a one-of-one moment. He’s the only player on the planet who could have made that shot, as the rest of humanity lacks the composure to strap a three with less than a second left on the shot clock in overtime against the best team in the league.

But I can’t like someone I’m afraid of. In a piece last month about second favorite teams, I wondered how people are able to decide on teams other than their hometown squad to root for, as I’ve always found that task impossible. Curry occupies a similar space in my mind. I accept and understand his greatness, but he has hurt me too many times.

AND THE PAIN WILL CONTINUE UNTIL YOUR WILL IS BROKEN. Anyways, how bout them Dubs, eh?