The Boston Celtics hung tough Sunday night with the best the NBA has to offer.
It didn’t result in a victory — the Golden State Warriors held on to win 114-111 — but Celtics players left Oracle Arena feeling optimistic about their squad.
“I thought coach (Brad Stevens) had the perfect game plan,” forward Brandon Bass said, via MassLive.com’s Jay King. “… We can build on this. This is another one we can build from.”
“(We’re) very confident,” forward Jared Sullinger added, via the team’s official Twitter account. “We know we can play with the top teams in the NBA. … Only a matter of time before they’re W’s.”
The Celtics still have a strong chance of finishing their grueling six-game West Coast swing with a winning record. The loss dropped them to 2-2 on the trip, and the remaining games come against two of the Western Conference’s weaker teams in the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves.
— The Warriors are downright filthy when playing on their home court. They’re a ridiculous 21-1 at Oracle this season and have not lost at home since Nov. 11.
— One area the Celtics have not excelled in of late is free-throw shooting. They’re shooting just 68.3 percent from the charity stripe during their current road trip, including going just 19-for-24 from the line against the Warriors.
Stevens is aware of these issues, but the coach told reporters after Sunday’s loss that they are far from a priority in his mind.
“I will not lose one ounce of sleep on free-throw shooting,” Stevens said. “These guys are professional basketball players. We’ll get better at the line, we’ll shoot it better, the law of averages will play itself out. We’re going through a little bit of an issue right now, (but) that stuff works itself out with good shooters.”
— We present to you the highs and lows of Stephen Curry:
Curry came alive after a quiet start to finish with 22 points and a game-high 11 assists.
— Jae Crowder really wanted the ball on this third-quarter possession (GIF via @MrTrpleDouble10):
— Stevens has employed some strange lineup combinations this season. We saw another Sunday, as the Celtics began the second quarter with Phil Pressey, Marcus Thornton, James Young, Tayshaun Prince and Tyler Zeller on the floor.
“Our offense played pretty well for the most part all night, so that was a positive, especially with some makeshift lineups out there that we haven’t played a lot together,” Stevens said.
— Wallace surprised everyone by scoring six straight points during the third quarter — a run that nearly doubled the veteran forward’s season point total. He hadn’t made a field goal since Dec. 12 entering Sunday.
Wallace also played some minutes at power forward in the absence of Kelly Olynyk, who will miss at least the next few weeks with a severe ankle sprain. Newly acquired forward Shavlik Randolph provides the Celtics with some depth at the four, but Stevens did not feel comfortable using him just yet.
“Shav just joined us, and I don’t know that it’s fair to just throw him in,” Stevens said. “And Gerald knows everything inside and out, so I feel comfortable with him playing that spot. He did a good job in that short amount of time, especially in and around the rim.”
— There’s a chance recently acquired rookie Andre Dawkins could join the Celtics for Wednesday’s matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Stevens told reporters before the game.
Dawkins, who signed a 10-day contract Friday, played two games this weekend with the Maine Red Claws of the D-League. He set a Red Claws record Saturday with eight made 3-pointers as part of a 27-point effort in a loss to his former team, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
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