Your Morning Dump… Where even Charles Barkley is now taking the Celtics very seriously

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

As ugly as things looked at times, as far behind as the Celtics fell, the Boston winning streak has now reached 14 games. The latest victory, a 92-88 conquest of the Warriors, was the most impressive yet.

Credit the defense, which held the mighty Golden State Warriors — maybe the best offense ever — to 41 points after halftime. Credit Kyrie Irving, who emerged from a rough night to close out the Warriors late. And credit Jaylen Brown (22 points, seven rebounds), who refused to let the Celtics go quietly when it appeared they might.

During the third quarter, Brown strapped the Celtics on his back, led a monster comeback, and outplayed everyone on the court, including the two MVPs on the other side.

Playing one of his best two-way games ever, the second-year pro stripped Stephen Curry, swatted Kevin Durant and charged an enormous third-quarter comeback. During a 19-0 run, Brown did just about everything: two 3-pointers, great defense, a monster offensive rebound. The Celtics stampeded out of a 17-point deficit to take a two-point lead, and the Garden fans roared.

MassLive – Jaylen Brown, Kyrie Irving help Boston Celtics topple Golden State Warriors, 92-88

Even after winning 13 straight games, the Celtics weren’t feeling total love from everyone around the league. ESPN’s power rankings this week had them not on top, but third. The NBA version ranked the Celtics second. And on the TNT pregame show last night, Charles Barkley flatly dismissed what the Cs had done to earn the league’s best record.

"They would not be favored in the Eastern Conference… I'm not sure they can beat Toronto or Washington." – Chuck on the Celtics pic.twitter.com/l7W06SrNsh

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 17, 2017

But that was before Boston roared back from 17 points down to defeat the defending champs. Charles had no choice but to change his mind:

Barkley just did a 180 — admitted he was wrong about the #Celtics and said Kyrie is MVP so far. pic.twitter.com/LAg66Elp1V

— Mike Dynon ☘️🏀 (@MikeDynon) November 17, 2017

The Celtics won by outscoring the Warriors, 43-22, over the final 16:49 of the contest and holding Golden State to 32 points below their per-game scoring average. Some of the Warriors posted shooting stats that were practically unbelievable: Draymond Green, 3-11; Klay Thompson, 5-18; and Steph Curry, 3-14. That’s right, megastar Steph, who came in averaging 25.2 per game, made just three hoops and scored only nine points.

Most of the Celtics also couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives. The bench was a combined 2-19, and Kyrie shot 4-16. It didn’t matter:

According to stat guru Dick Lipe, tonight was only secnd time in last 35 seasons that Celtics have won when they shot less than 33 percent. (They shot 32.9.) Other time was when they shot 32.3 percent vs. Atlanta and won, 89-88, on Feb. 11, 2015.

— Bill Doyle (@BillDoyle15) November 17, 2017

The hero was Jaylen, who led the team in scoring and electrified the crowd with threes, dunks and defense (including stealing Curry’s dribble, blocking a Durant jumper, and forcing KD into a backcourt violation). Some highlights:

.@FCHWPO owned the 3Q as the @celtics marched back to tie the game! ☘ pic.twitter.com/0ulhbgyzJt

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 17, 2017

Other notables:

Al Horford shot 7-11 for 18 points and added 11 rebounds, his second straight double-double.
Marcus Smart again was inept on offense, shooting 0-7 and even inexplicably knocking the ball out of the hoop before an Irving layup could drop through the net, negating two points for Boston. But Smart was on the court hitting the boards and creating havoc defensively during the Cs’ 19-0 run. He ended the game at plus-15.
Jayson Tatum looked like a rookie much of the night, but he scored seven points in the fourth quarter, including calmly sinking two free throws that iced the win with 6.7 seconds left.
Irving, still uncomfortable wearing the mask for his broken face, had only five points through three quarters. Fed up, he tossed the mask aside and delivered 11 points in the fourth, including two FTs that put Boston ahead for good with 14 seconds to play.

Kyrie Irving knew the health risk he was taking by ditching mask: "Its my life."

— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) November 17, 2017

The Celts had a huge advantage at the line, shooting 33 of 38 compared to 12-19 for the visitors. Naturally, the Warriors weren’t pleased.

Draymond Green was asked about Kyrie Irving getting it going down the stretch: “He got to the free throw line a lot. That was it. He didn’t make no shots. He got to the free throw line. Whether they were fouls or not is another discussion.”

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) November 17, 2017

One last note: former Celtic Eddie House didn’t think much of Barkley’s pregame opinions:

https://twitter.com/RealEddieHouse/status/931345941885530113

NBC Sports Boston – Irving, C’s finish strong to top Warriors | Stars, studs and duds: Brown the difference-maker in huge win vs Warriors

ESPN Boston – In a thriller, Celtics keep streak alive against defending champs

Providence Journal – Celtics 92, Warriors 88: Boston rallies to beat defending champs for 14th straight victory

Herald – Celts push streak to 14 | Bulpett: Finals rematch with Warriors would be brutal fun

Globe – Celtics make a strong case with their defense

CBS Sports – What we learned from the Boston Celtics’ win over the Golden State Warriors

The Ringer – Five Small-Ball Lineups That Could Challenge Golden State’s Dominance | In Celebration of Boston’s Bench

Bleacher Report – Kyrie Playing D? Ainge Scaring Other GMs? Inside Celtics’ Eye-Opening Win Streak

ESPN – Kyrie Irving bet on himself, and he’s on a mission to prove he was right

On Page 2: Brown played through shock of best friend’s death

After the game, people became aware that Jaylen played with the emotional pain of losing his best friend.

“My best friend passed last night. It was tough to kind of accept it,” Brown said. “Everybody was kind of in shock. But I knew coming into today that he would have wanted me to play. It was hard getting my thoughts together, but after talking to his mom and his family, they inspired me to come out and play.

“I wasn’t in any shape to come out. I didn’t want to leave my room. But they inspired me to come out and play. And I came out and played in his spirit today. My teammates held me up and we pulled it out.”

ESPN Boston – Celtics’ Jaylen Brown played ‘inspired’ after death of best friend

Jaylen Brown lost a close friend and was unsure if he was going to play today. Brad Stevens said he had a very similar conversation, with similar talking points, with Brown today as he did last season with Isaiah Thomas after IT lost his sister last season.

— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) November 17, 2017

Jaylen’s postgame comments: