The first meeting of the season between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors lived up to the hype, which is no small accomplishment on its own. And while Kyrie Irving tried to downplay a suggestion of a playoff-like atmosphere on Saturday night at TD Garden, it seemed impossible to argue that both sides weren’t a little extra amped for a showdown of two of the most talented teams in the NBA.
Now we just gotta wait 37 days for the rematch in Oakland.
What exactly did the Celtics learn during Saturday’s game? They learned just how small the margin for error is against an elite team like Golden State. The Warriors require laser focus on every possession or they’ll make you pay. The Celtics can take some solace in the fact that they were far from perfect and still had a chance to steal the game late but it’s clear Boston’s play must go to another level should these teams cross paths further down the road.
WARRIORS 115, CELTICS 111
Here’s a handful of leftover thoughts as we digest the Celtics-Warriors showdown:
BOSTON BENCH IN SECOND HALF: 2 POINTS, 1-OF-8 FG
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Celtics coach Brad Stevens went with a playoff-like rotation, utilizing only nine players in each half. He leaned on a three-man bench core of Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown, and Terry Rozier and that three-man lineup posted an offensive rating of 82.9 for the night. That’s terrifying when you consider Boston’s offensive rating overall was nearly 26 points higher.
Listen, the bench is going to have off nights. But it’s got to be maddening for Stevens to still have virtually no idea what kind of effort he’s going to get from the reserves on a night-to-night basis. Brown has been excellent recently but went scoreless in 10 second-half minutes on Saturday. Rozier was brilliant in a spot start against Cleveland and then went 1-for-4 with 2 points over 19 minutes against the Warriors.
If depth is going to be the hallmark of your team, then the Celtics have to be able to rely on that depth. Even defensive anchor Aron Baynes struggled during 10 first-half minutes and Stevens went with a smaller dose of Daniel Theis in the second half, which was equally ineffective.
Boston’s starting lineup is really clicking. The combination of Irving, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris, and Al Horford has a net rating of plus-15.1 this season in 283 minutes together. That ranks third among the 27 five-man lineups in the NBA with at least 200 minutes of floor time this season. Only the Warriors core with Kevon Looney and Portland’s starting group have been better.
If the Celtics’ bench treads water most nights, this team should be in position to win games. If they feast on opposing reserves like they really should given the talent Boston possess, it makes the Celtics one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA. But that hasn’t happened and Saturday emphasized that as Boston endured some real painful scoring lulls while Irving and Horford were on the bench.
MORE CELTICS
Boston’s bench players generated a measly 2 points on 1-of-8 shooting in the second half against the Warriors. And somehow the Celtics weren’t run out of the gym during those minutes, which does tell you something about the defense that group tends to play. Still, Boston needs more offense from the backups but especially …
HAYWARD’S O-FER
With all the necessary asterisks, including that Hayward is still clearly fighting his ankle while trying to find his old self and that he spent part of Boston’s two offdays welcoming a third daughter, Hayward’s struggles were thrust into a national spotlight when he missed all five shots he took during a rough outing in Saturday’s loss.
It’s not fair to pin all of Boston’s bench struggles on Hayward but his salary makes him an easy target for frustrated fans. You can absolutely see when the frustration bubbles over for Hayward, including when a first-half layup rolled off the rim on Saturday night. Hayward just never got comfortable on the floor against the Warriors, though he did have a couple stretches where his rebounding and defense went up a notch.
Hayward has tried to stay patient and the team has as well. Typically he maintain a positive impact when his shots not falling by being a creator or bringing defensive energy. But there are times when the offensive woes seem to weigh on him. Hayward has got to fight through those moments and he has to trust his body more when attacking the basket, if only to develop the confidence he so desperately needs to get back to who he was.
As a patient Stevens said earlier this week, “Hopefully he’ll continue to get more comfortable. And by game 60 and 80, he’ll feel better than he does at 40 and 20.”
KLAY’S ’NOT A FORTUNE TELLER’
Klay Thompson was asked if he thought the Warriors might be back in Boston in June and he gave a notable response.
”If you start thinking about June, you overlook the process, which is the most fun thing about it,” said Thompson.
The knee-jerk reaction to watching two high-level basketball teams go at it is to yearn for more. It’s fun for Celtics fans to ponder a seven-game series against a team like the Warriors.
And yet the Celtics have an awful lot of work ahead to even sniff such a goal.
There’s 33 games left in the regular season and the Celtics remain cemented in the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference. If the season ended today, Boston’s path to the Finals would likely include having to go on the road in Philly in Round 1, on the road in Toronto in Round 2, and on the road in Milwaukee in Road 3.
The Victor Oladipo injury could help Boston make up ground on a Pacers team it trails by 2.5 games but making a move past multiple teams won’t be easy. While 538 projections have the Pacers plummeting, Boston still only projects at fourth in the East at the moment. ESPN’s Basketball Power Index is slightly more bullish on Boston’s chances to vault the Sixers but has the Celtics finishing well back of Toronto and Milwaukee.
Which is to say that, as the Warriors depart, the Celtics can’t downshift just because their next opponent isn’t as glitzy. A loss to the Nets on Monday would leave the Celtics closer to sixth-seeded Brooklyn in the standings than the 76ers in front of them.
WARRIORS 115, CELTICS 111
The Celtics are quite clearly more talented than their record indicates but they’ve put themselves in a tough spot to really have to work in the second half of the season if they desire to ease their playoff path a bit.
As for a Celtics-Warriors matchup in June, said Thompson: "I don’t know. I’m not a fortune teller.”
PATH IS TOUGH … BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE
The sobering standings glance shouldn’t diminish what these Celtics are capable of. Honestly, playing the team's best basketball in April and/or May might be more important than homecourt. And there was an awful lot of high praise towards Boston from the Warriors after Saturday’s game.
"They are one of the best teams in the league,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. "They’re great defensively and they’ve got dynamic offensive players, they’re already one of the best. It will be interesting to see this year, with LeBron [James] out of the East, who comes out of the East and we have a lot of work to do to also get out of the West. A lot of great teams this year. I think the league is better this year than it’s been in a long time. A lot of great teams but Boston is clearly a great two-way team and that is what it takes in the playoffs.”
During his walkoff interview with NBC Sports Boston, Thompson likewise gushed about Boston’s ceiling.
"They’re not to be taken lightly come postseason,” said Thompson. "They got too much talent, they got too too much experience with what they went through last year.”
FINAL THOUGHTS: GLASS IS HALF FULL
A win Saturday night would have been a real statement for these Celtics but they sent a message in defeat as well. Remember that the Warriors were absolutely rolling coming into Saturday’s game, the Celtics didn’t play all that well for various stretches, and still had a chance to steal a win.
Outside of some rare fourth-quarter sloppiness, Irving was spectacular yet again. Horford was excellent putting up 22 points and 13 rebounds and showed that, even while newcomer DeMarcus Cousins got his points, the Celtics can win those minutes when Boogie is on the court (and Boston won’t mind him taking away 3-point shots from some of his sharpshooting teammates).
Even on a night when Boston’s bench gave the team virtually nothing and even Morris struggled with his shot, the Celtics still managed to trade haymakers with the NBA’s best team. If Smart doesn’t slip chasing an errant free throw, maybe Irving hits a game-winning shot and Boston would be the toast of the NBA in the aftermath.
It was a fascinating matchup to watch and a reminder of just how much more fun things will be when the playoffs roll around. Regardless of whether these inconsistencies ever fade this season, the Celtics have proven they can go toe-to-toe with the NBA’s best. They should be a confident team regardless of where they finish and who they match up with.
There’s plenty of room for growth in order to reach Boston's loftiest goals but, considering where the Celtics have been at times this season, even this loss felt like progress.
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