Celtics, Warriors Have Trended In Opposite Directions Since Finals Battle

BOSTON — The Celtics hosted the Warriors for their regular-season series finale Sunday afternoon, booking a marquee matchup two years removed from their six-game NBA Finals battle.

Two seasons isn’t a significantly far removal from when Golden State rolled into Boston and left TD Garden showered in champagne and confetti. While those memories might still loom in the minds of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics weren’t at all fazed by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. As they’ve done all season long, Boston took care of business, although this time, it was ugly — to put it lightly.

Boston took the floor without Kristaps Porzingis, who was sidelined with a left quad contusion, while Golden State played Curry, who was questionable ahead of warmups with a knee injury. Neither injury report update had any impact whatsoever as right after the contest was knotted up at 21-21 in the first quarter, the Celtics fled with sole possession of the game, its momentum and reduced Curry to one of his most ineffective performances.

The two-time MVP finished with just four points, going 0-for-9 from three and was seated for the entirety of the second half — alongside Thompson and Green — after Boston took a commanding 82-38 lead into the third quarter.

“We controlled the margins, we kept them out of transition with our offense and we were able to get out in transition because of our one-shot defense,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said after Boston’s 140-88 blowout win over the Warriors. “We just have to continue to keep the game connected, and understand how each part of the game affects the other and fight like heck to execute that.”

82-38 at the half pic.twitter.com/L31OYzJUFf

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— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) March 3, 2024

Golden State’s only lead of the game — two points in the first quarter — was followed by a rapid fade of momentum, which allowed the Celtics to do whatever they wanted offensively. Granted, that was easier with Jaylen Brown constantly being left open from three, which backfired on Warriors head coach Steve Kerr as Boston took a 44-22 lead after one frame.

“If you wanna dare me to shoot, we can do that too,” said Brown, who scored a game-high 29 points and nailed five 3-pointers. “I thought it was a little disrespectful but we took advantage of it and didn’t look back.”

That encapsulated where the Celtics and Warriors have headed for the past few seasons since meeting in the Finals, and continue to head in the future.

Boston’s made it a staple of its 2023-24 run to break new ceilings. The Celtics were stellar defensively, holding Golden State to 39.1% shooting from the field, and were even stronger (somehow) offensively, recording 42 fast-break points to 12 from the Warriors.

That inability to keep up is where Golden State sits. Kerr’s once-dynasty is now washed up and can’t hold itself together enough to hang with the NBA’s new powerhouses. If Curry’s off, if Thompson isn’t nailing shots from beyond the arc, there isn’t much left to rely on. Green’s antics fit in when the Warriors were winning, but leaving Brown — perhaps a mind trick — ended up making Golden State look silly and lazy.

“That’s what we used to do to teams,” Curry said, per Bobby Manning of CLNS Media. “It’s kind of demoralizing, especially on the road. A shot that you’re comfortable giving up or whatever the case is, and they’re taking advantage of it. Then you feel like you have to play home run basketball on the other end to try to make it up.”

The Warriors were so reduced collectively that they were barely recognizable. Shots weren’t falling, the energy was non-existent in transition regardless of who Kerr played and its mind-boggling to imagine what the result could’ve been had Porzingis played.

Golden State mustered up a recent push, winning 10 of its last 13 coming into Boston, but there’s only one team with 48 wins in the NBA and it’s the Celtics. The Warriors dropped to 32-28 as the ninth seed of the Western Conference while the Celtics, now winners of 11 straight, set yet another record, becoming the first NBA team to record three 50-point wins in a season.