– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — Damn.
Yes, the job requires a few more paragraphs to be written to describe the bloodletting that occurred on the floor of TD Garden, and in front of a national audience no less, but one-word superlatives — and condemnations — would do the trick just as much.
Formally, the Boston Celtics used a game-breaking 21-1 run to end the first quarter to catapult themselves to, arguably, the greatest first half of basketball in franchise history, opening up a whopping 44-point halftime lead in their 140-88 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday afternoon. In the opening stanza, Boston hit a staggering 10 three-pointers, the most they’ve made in any quarter this season. On offense, Jaylen Brown scored 19 points and, defensively, helped put stifling ball pressure on the perimeter against Golden State’s ball-handlers, holding Steph Curry to 1-of-6 shooting and forcing a couple of airballs on threes. As a team, the Celtics had 20 assists in the first half and just one turnover. That 44-point bulge at the break is now the largest halftime lead in team history, and the lead would have been 47 in Derrick White’s three at the first-half buzzer didn’t spin out after going halfway down the hoop.
Informally … HOLY FREAKING $@%&%^!!!!!
Though the Warriors form is far removed from that which led them to defeat the Celtics in their 2022 NBA Finals matchup, that did not stop Boston from coming into today’s game with long memories. Brown admitted as much in the ESPN halftime interview in mentioning that defeat, as well as wanting to prove that they’re the best team in the league against the team still has its core from the dynastic run it continued in 2022.
Formally speaking, Brown finished with a game-high 29 points, taking advantage of slack coverage on him to make five threes. Tatum, after scoring just two points in the first quarter, exploded for 20 in the second on his way to 27 points. The beatdown was so comprehensive that Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green did not play a second after halftime, and after the first 4:44 of the third quarter, all five Celtics starters were pulled and put on ice for the rest of the game.
Informally … Great Caesar’s Ghost!! The Celtics made a statement, one which says that, on their drive to be ready for the playoffs and win championship No. 18, they’re taking no prisoners.
“First time it’s ever happened to me,” Brown said about the Warriors’ strategy of daring Brown to shoot and giving him space on the perimeter. “Honestly, I was a bit surprised … I usually open it up for everybody else. But if you want to dare me to shoot, we can do that, too. I thought it was a little disrespectful …
“It’s never personal. I’m sure that’s what they thought their best chance was, whoever came up with that defensive kind of concept. So it’s not personal. I was a little disrespectful to me. But it is what it is.”
In turn, the Celtics did all of the disrespecting, making the Warriors’ run of 13 wins in their past 16 contests coming into that — as well as an eight-game winning streak away from home — look meaningless.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with all photos taken by Boston-area photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 45 pictures in total.
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