Two nights after defeating the Toronto Raptors, the first of four opponents on an East Coast road trip, the Golden State Warriors (9-2) were at TD Garden to face the Boston Celtics (6-5).
The Warriors were without Damian Jones (pectoral surgery) and James McAdoo (inactive). The Celtics were without Al Horford (concussion protocol) and Jae Crowder (left ankle sprain).
Q1 – KD Keeps Celtics At Bay
Marcus Smart got off to a blistering start, scoring 8 of the Celtics’ first 12 points on two threes and an up-fake of Draymond Green, who had to commit to the close-out due to Smart’s hot shooting, leading to a pretty swish floater.
But Klay Thompson answered one of Smart’s threes with a triple of his own, in transition and on the catch from Green, and Stephen Curry and Zaza Pachulia got steals that led to fast breaks.
On one of them, Curry got blocked by Amir Johnson, but Pachulia hustled down the floor and tapped the ball back to keep the ball live. Steph tracked it down and hit a banking lefty scoop before the rest of the Celtics could help.
On the other, it was Thompson who drove right baseline and missed a lefty bunny, only to have Zaza tip the ball again, although Klay missed his own lefty scoop that would have been a carbon copy of Curry’s.
But Pachulia grabbed the miss and put it back strongly, and Boston head coach Brad Stevens called a timeout as Golden State took a 16-12 lead.
Out of the timeout, Johnson missed a hook shot and Thompson came off a curl for a jumper at the free throw line, assisted by Green, and Smart missed a scoop past Zaza.
Kevin Durant got the ball down the left sideline and pulled up immediately for a triple.
Isaiah Thomas finally broke the Celtics’ drought with an upfake on the right baseline of Steph, Draymond missed a three, Thomas got in the lane with a jump-stop and faded for a swish, and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr took a timeout as Boston closed the lead to 21-16.
After the timeout, Kerr brought McAdoo in, rookie Jaylen Brown bricked a three, and Curry threw a touchdown pass to Andre Iguodala on the rebound for a quick layup.
Then McAdoo hustled and forced a turnover, leading to a set play where Draymond found Iguodala on the cut for a two-hand smash down the left baseline, giving the Warriors their biggest lead, 25-16, with 3:34 remaining:
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But Thomas missed a three with several Golden State players lunging out on hot-potato passes on the perimeter by Boston, and Johnson jammed home the putback, Steph missed three straight shots, Thomas drew free throws, found Terry Rozier for a triple, and Tyler Zeller hit two consecutive jumpers, and the Celtics were back in business just like that, 25-25, with 1:07 to play.
“KD” then got a pass on the left wing from Klay in the corner, bobbled the catch, but recovered in stride to execute a crossover and a running swish floater, high on the release and high-arcing.
With 12.1 seconds to go, Durant held the ball up top, McAdoo set the screen, rolled, and KD fed him a perfect bounce pass for a soaring one-handed righty slam:
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Brown then bricked a deep three from the right arc at the buzzer, with Iguodala closing and all over him, with no call.
Brown argued during the break and was assessed a technical foul with the Warriors taking a 29-27 lead after one period of play.
Q2 – No Sparks As Celtics Stay Close
Klay started the second stanza with a made technical free throw shot, then Durant went to work.
After a turnover by Rozier, Durant hit a left pinch-post fade-away, then after David West got a blocked shot in transition defense on Avery Bradley, KD crossed over and pulled up against the helpless Kelly Olynyk for two more:
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Bradley missed a jumper, Durant worked the right post this time, and fed a cutting Shaun Livingston for a two-hand jam, giving the Warriors a 36-27 lead with 10:02 to go, as Stevens called another timeout.
Out of the timeout, Bradley got in the paint for a little jumper, then got caught with too much contact on KD as Durant went high post again, but, incredibly, missed both free throws.
After Thompson dribbled and faded for two more to give the Warriors an eight-point cushion, Durant lost the ball and Bradley got a dunk on a touchdown pass.
Both teams traded punches as West got a lefty post-up fed by Klay, Durant went pinch-post to find Thompson for a turnaround, but after a nice defensive sequence in which both West and Livingston got successive blocked shots, Livingston threw the ball away.
Kerr put Curry back in, but Bradley curled around a screen and hit a jumper, while Draymond missed a three, McAdoo couldn’t catch a lead pass from Patrick McCaw cleanly, leading to a missed three that went halfway down for McCaw, and Gerald Green slithered inside for a lefty scoop past Green.
With 5:11 left, Boston once again closed the gap to 42-36.
Out of the timeout, Steph finally got a bucket to drop as he upfaked then dribbled and pulled up, Livingston made a great block on a jumper, but after Curry missed from deep, the ball caromed to both Smart and Green, and Draymond got whistled on the 50/50 loose ball:
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Kerr wasn’t happy about the call, either, but the Celtics took advantage as Green hit a three on the catch from the right arc, Livingston missed a jump hook he usually makes, and Thomas darted inside for another layup.
With 3:29 remaining, Kerr called another timeout as the Celtics inched closer, 44-41.
Iguodala got a late-shotclock short jumper fed by Green after Durant got doubled, and the teams once again traded baskets.
Gerald Green hit a three, Thompson posted up on Thomas and rose for a jumper just before Johnson could help, Steph curled around after Thompson tried to back in Thomas and passed the ball back out to Draymond, and Draymond found Durant for a short fade-away, although the crowd clamored for a traveling violation on the catch.
That put Golden State up, 53-46, with 1:03 remaining, then Curry stepped over a pick for Thomas, but ended up fouling Thomas.
Klay and Thomas traded misses, then Thompson curled around again and stretched his arm out for a righty scoop that trickled in with 14.2 seconds to play, getting past Smart.
Smart couldn’t answer from downtown with three seconds to go, and Steph hit the board from halfcourt, off by about two yards, as the Warriors took a 55-48 lead into halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @allcurry3.0)
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