Can I get a "yikes"? After riding high, having won their first three games of the road trip and eight straight on the road, the Golden State Warriors got put in a meat grinder Sunday afternoon by the Boston Celtics in a 140-88 loss.
Boston destroyed them. There is no other way to describe it. This was borderline perfect basketball from the Celtics, while the Warriors looked as lost as they had since early in the year.
The Celtics were 15-of-22 from deep in the first half. They went into the first half leading 82-38. That 44-point lead for Boston was their largest first-half lead in franchise history, and the fewest points in a half for the Warriors.
Here's what to make of an outrageously one-sided loss:
Celtics clearly took the Finals loss personally
At the end of the first half, Jaylen Brown told Cassidy Hubbarth:
"They beat us here on our home floor."
Former Warriors general manager Bob Myers, now on ESPN, noted that statement. Boston was clearly out for some sort of revenge.
"This means more to them," Myers said. "The Warriors already beat them on their home floor, got the championship."
That was the sense from the moment Boston went on a 22-1 run in the first quarter. Boston was playing at another level. It goes beyond the obvious fact that the Celtics are clearly the better team, if not the best team in the league (they have to prove that in the playoffs, so good luck telling that Nikola Jokic).
Boston was desperate to make a statement. The way the played defensively was Finals caliber. The Warriors came in with regular season energy. Boston was playing like this was the Game 7 they never had.
Whatever you extrapolate from this game, it's impossible to consider this just a bad, random loss. This was personal for Boston. For the Warriors, it wasn't. This was their vibe . They took a whooping and sat down.
Not much left in the tank at the end of the road trip
Stephen Curry came into this game questionable with right knee bursitis, and Brandin Podziemski was out again with right knee soreness.
While the Celtics came into this game without Kristaps Porzingis, it was evident that they had far more energy than Golden State. The Warriors looked like they had nowhere near the energy or athleticism to play with the Celtics.
After three road wins on this four-game stint, it was evident the damage had been done. That said, there was a silver lining.
Klay Thompson had hamstring tightness and was ruled out at the half, and because the beatdown was so bad, Curry and others got rest. Rather than having to play out another exhausting game, the Celtics gave them an out.
How much should be made of this loss?
It was the sort of first half that makes you question why forfeits aren't allowed. The second half didn't need to be played.
But how much concern should there be following this, a beatdown of record-setting proportions?
It's a loss that obviously tells us that the Warriors were outclassed by the most likely Finals opponent. Still, it feels less consequential than the fourth-quarter collapse earlier this season to the Denver Nuggets.
Golden State came into this game after having already secured a successful road trip, and without two key pieces in Podziemski and Andrew Wiggins. They're probably not going to compete for anything meaningful without that guys, though the Celtics didn't have Porzingis, either.
The point is, this was an absolute beatdown, but it was so bad that it became almost laughable. There's an argument that it's easier to shrug off because it was decided so early. There was no false hope, no collapse, just an awful loss cemented about 12 minutes into the game.
If you want to use this as a measuring stick, then you could say the Warriors obviously aren't close. Maybe they came into this game high on their own supply, overconfident that Jaylen Brown would brick his way into a loss. Neither he, nor anyone else on Boston obliged that approach.
But in order for this loss to be of major concern, they'd still have to get through the Nuggets, and they haven't proven they're capable of that yet, either.
This was an embarrassing ending to a successful road trip. But its one which allowed the Warriors to get some extra rest and remind themselves there is a hell of a lot of work to do to compete for a title this season. That was already the case, and might have been a good reality check for a team that had won 13 of 16.
Comments / 0