The first two quarters of tonight’s game were easily the Celts’ best of their recent road trip. They stumbled at first, going down 10-2 after some early turnover/foul trouble. It looked like Oracle Arena would continue to be Boston’s house of horrors. But the C’s quickly turned things around-especially on the defensive end.
The C’s held the Warriors to 47 first-half points (sounds funny but this is GSW we’re talking about) and were up 49-47 at halftime. Boston’s aggressive defense, led in the half by Humph, Bass & Olynyk, had 5 blocks and kept the Warriors’ explosive offense at bay. Jared Sullinger looked like his old self, putting up a gaudy 16 points and 8 rebounds in the half. Jeff Green was also feeling it early, scoring 11 of his own first half points, including a nasty baseline dunk over two defenders.
In the second half, the refs started to take any type of pace right out of this game. It was whistle after whistle, which in a way helped Boston. But GSW adjusted and went to Marreese Speights who had 9 third quarter points and got to the free-throw line quite a bit thanks to those whistle-happy refs. Speights would prove to be huge for GSW tonight, scoring 13 big points off the bench. The Celtics went into the final quarter down 72-67.
The Warriors looked like they were going to pull away in the fourth, but Boston did what was so successful for them all night. They fought. You definitely cannot say that about all of Boston’s recent games, but tonight, the effort & heart were there. After an Iguodala dunk put the Warriors up 13, 82-69 with 10:32 left in regulation, Oracle was rocking. Things looked bleak for Boston. But Jordan Crawford and Kris Humphries put the team on their backs and whittled away at the lead. A Crawford trey with 4:47 to go had the C’s within 1 point. It was 89-88. But the turnovers killed us. Boston had quite a few chances to take the lead late, but sloppy play just would not let it happen. A Steph Curry long two with 3 seconds left put the Warriors up 99-97. Boston had one last chance, but Jeff Green bobbled the inbounds pass & Gerald Wallace’s three-point attempt grabbed nothing but backboard. 99-97 is your final tonight.
Tough loss to say the least, but I still loved the way Boston kept fighting their way back into this game. Andre Iguodala hit big shot after big shot tonight and finished with 22. Curry had 19. Celtics now head to Portland where they face the Blazers tomorrow night. Tip-off is at 10pm EST.
The Green:
- Jeff Green. Green was “A$$hole Jeff” tonight. He was aggressive from start to finish, leading all scorers with 24 points. Green also had 11 rebounds.
- Jared Sullinger bounced back well after struggling in his last few outings. Sully had 21 points, 16 of them in the first half. He pulled down 11 rebounds and shot 2 of 3 from downtown.
- The Humphty Dance was alive & well on Friday night in Digital Undeground’s back yard. Humph had a monster line of 16 pts, 14 rebounds, 2 steals & 3 blocks. He was fantastic on defense and hit all 6 of his free-throw attempts. Cannot be more happy with what he’s done so far this year when called upon.
The Gross:
- GSW had 14 points off of 17 Boston turnovers tonight. As mentioned above, sloppiness at inopportune times really hurt Boston.
The Greenlights:
Jeff Green incredible shot
http://youtu.be/XBukGpX2W_w
Green reverse stuff over two Warriors
http://youtu.be/ZbOpbT8qO0A
The Grid: (quick stats)
- Warriors shot just 8 of 26 from three
- Celtics outscored Warriors in the paint 42-38
- Boston has now lost 10 of last 11
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