(NSFW) The Celtics Gave Us All The Porn You'll Need In Their Dominant Win Over The Warriors
When you’ve had a 10 game stretch like the Celtics have had, it’s hard to remind yourself that last night was just one game. With so much drama and disaster surrounding this team, much of it their own doing, when you get a performance like this against a team like GS in their own building, it’s only natural to be unsure how to feel. We haven’t experienced something this positive in what feels like forever, and while their problems are not suddenly fixed or anything like that, this was still for sure a gigantic statement win. This game obviously meant more for the Celtics as they’ve continued to underachieve and lose to every goddamn team they play, so coming out and pulling off a wire to wire beatdown of the best team on the planet is something I don’t think any of us saw coming. Sure we knew that the Celtics always play the Warriors close, you look at their last like 8 matchups and everything is within two possessions for the most part. A 33 point game is not something you would ever expect, and if you did think it was going to happen you certainly would have thought it was going to be the Warriors who would pull it off.
In reality, this was the first time the Warriors didn’t have a lead in a game in over 2 years. It was the worst loss of the Steve Kerr era, and it’s safe to say the Warriors never challenged. Imagine that, a team with that type of talent never really made it close because each and every time they tried to make a run the Celts came right back and responded with a run of their own. That’s the type of resolve we really haven’t seen all season, in fact it’s always been the opposite. I think we all were waiting for the classic Warriors run that would bring things to single digits mostly because the Celts love to blow giant leads, but that never happened. I’d go so far to say this was a season saving win for the Celtics, and even if that sounds dramatic it’s how I really feel. If they came out and were the ones who were lifeless and got blown out by 33 things would have been a billion times worse. Instead, we saw a team that looks like they actually enjoy each other, they played hard for a full 48 minutes on both ends, and the results speak for themselves.
When we as fans think of what the best version of this team looks like, last night was it. The challenge now becomes how much of this can they harness moving forward. Consistency has been the thorn in their side all year, if anything they’ve shown they aren’t capable of maintaining this level of play, but that’s the thing with this group. When you think they zig they zag. What if this really is that tipping point that we’ve waited for all year?
The one thing we know is the Celtics treat Oracle Arena like it’s TD Garden West. They’ve won 3 of their last 4 in that building, they are one of the few teams that match up well with GS (especially when they’re missing one of their best players), and I can’t be more thankful that they finally give us something positive to talk about. We needed it.
The Good
– I don’t know how you could think we’d be starting anywhere else other than Gordon Hayward. Nobody needed a performance like this more than him, and his 30 points off the bench on 12-16 shooting was the best I’ve seen him look all year and that includes the MIN explosion
The results are obviously amazing, but the reason many Celtics fans are happy this morning in my opinion has to do with Hayward’s aggressive approach. Right from the jump he came out looking for his shot, saw his first one drop and from then on he was off to the races. Finally we saw him actually get the ball as his usage rate of 24.3% was the 4th highest of the regular rotation players, and maybe part of that has to do with the fact that he couldn’t miss, but seeing how Hayward was used int his game is what gives me hope for the playoffs. Even if they get 75% of this version of Hayward moving forward, this team starts to look a whole lot more like the one we expect. Now we’ve seen this from him before, where he has a performance like this and then disappears for a few games, but given where we are in the season and how important these games are, getting anything from Hayward is a positive.
He brought it on the defense end too with a 75 Drtg, so yeah, I’d say Gordon was pretty nails last night.
– I can’t help but think maybe just maybe Jaylen Brown has overcome his early season struggles. He continues to be one of the best players on this team and it’s been that way for months now, and now on the biggest stage he had one of his best all around performances of the season
His offense was an efficient 8-16 (2-4), I felt like he played in control on the offensive end, got to his spots where he knew he had an advantage, and when he finishes with a shot chart that looks like this
good things usually happen. I don’t even mind his misses as they came from the areas you want Jaylen shooting from. I thought he was great early in terms of recognizing space and cutting without the ball, his performance along with Hayward’s in the second quarter played a huge role in why the Celts dropped 41 and didn’t shit their pants, and we’re starting to see Brad reward Jaylen more and more with minutes. He played 27 compared to Mook’s 17, and a big reason for that in my mind isn’t jsut what we’re seeing offensively, but more so what we’re seeing on the defensive end.
On 17 possessions (his most of any matchup) Jaylen held Kevin Durant to 4 points on 2-6 shooting. This continues the trend we’ve seen recently where Jaylen has been absolute nails on then defensive end and he’s doing it against some of the best offensive players in the league. We know that if you defend at a high level Brad will play you, and nobody has been doing it better than Jaylen has over the last few weeks.
– Speaking of defense, this was the best collection of Celtics porn we’ve had all season. I have to warn you this is very NSFW, you may or may not get aroused at work when you watch this, but that’s the risk you have to take.
Up and down the roster, every single player brought it on the defensive end. This was one of the most complete efforts I’ve ever seen, they held GS to 40/22% splits and 21 TOs. Four Celtics had at least 2 steals and it was almost as if the energy and effort was contagious. Credit guys like Smart for setting the tone early and even guys who have slacked on that end recently like Kyrie and Mook were great. Hell, Morris held Durant to 2-6 shooting on 27 possessions! This was the Celtics defense we know and love so to see them do it on the road against an unreal opponent certainly makes my mind think some crazy things.
– He only took 15 shots, but I thought this was one of Kyrie’s better all around performances
Nothing was really forced, his body language was GREAT, he was a willing passer finishing with 11 assists and a 39.3% AST% all while for the most part taking care of the basketball. Defensively he gave great effort and ended the night a starter best +20. He did a great job keeping pace with Curry and I think heading in we all expected to need a huge offensive night from Kyrie to even have a chance. While watching him go for 40 is always entertaining, I think I prefer this version more. Bust out the unstoppable offense consistently throughout the game, but don’t force anything especially when your teammates have it going. Kyrie had to show up given all the talking he’s done recently, and he did just that.
– Oh yeah, Jayson Tatum also played and was pretty legit too. When the kids and the vets are both rolling, boy does this team look scary
– The way the Celts started this game in terms of ball movement it’s no surprise this was the performance we got. Starting with 12 assists on 14 baskets and finishing with a season high 38 for the night, we haven’t seen this type of passing in a long time I feel like. The Basketball Gods clearly rewarded them because they actually made open looks which was a nice surprise, and it’s why I think we all get so frustrated with this team at times because they should always pass like this. The ball didn’t stick no matter who was in the game which is rare, and it’s obvious when this team plays the right way it’s a different feel.
– He may be having a rough year, but I LOVE that Terry gives no fucks whatsoever. He’s ready to throw down for the sake of his teammates whenever he needs to no matter who it’s against. That’s what you need
– Celts won the rebounding battle, the points in the paint battle, the fast break points battle, had 26 points off TOs, and had a lead as big as 35. What even is that.
– Credit to Brad for being a billion times better with timeouts. Granted he had huge leads to work with but even at the slightest sign of a GS run he was quick to call a timeout and regroup. That’s like seeing Big Foot so I feel like it should be mentioned.
– If you thought I was going to leave out Yabu from a blog like this, you sir have not been paying attention.
– 68 bench points on over 50% shooting as a unit. When the second unit is rolling like this, you cannot beat this team. Period.
The Bad
– Look it’s hard to even do these next to sections because again, they won by 33 in Oracle. Maybe the first quarter defense? Even that wasn’t all that terrible though despite the 50% GS shooting. I will say they had a little trouble staying in front of Steph Curry, but he never really went nuts so it ended up not being a big deal.
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– I guess only having Horford take 3 FGA fits, he really wasn’t used all that much in his 21 minutes but you know given that they also play today I think I’m OK with it. He did have his issues with Boogie on the defensive end but that makes sense because he struggles with big bruising centers. It’s just nice that on a quiet Horford night they still could have a performance like they did. Let’s just not make a habit of it.
– Those who will take this win and then complain about it saying it’s bullshit that the Celts don’t play like this all the time. Try and enjoy something in your life for once maybe. The Celts have stunk, and they just turned in their best performance of the year, maybe take the day off with the negative shit.
The Ugly
– I find it pretty close to a fireable offense that you were up this much the whole game and Yabu played just 3:30. There is no excuse for that. Normally the Celts blow their lead and we get boned out of having Yabu hit the floor, but that didn’t happen last night and we didn’t get nearly enough.
– Rough night for the “they hate each other and never celebrate their teammate’s big plays” crowd. Oh well.
It should be said there is a very good chance they come out flat tonight in SAC and undo everything we saw last night. That would also be very Celtics and something you should mentally be prepared for. But what I also know is sometimes it just takes one win like this for the lightbulb to go off, and until proven otherwise I am going to believe that this team is heading in the right direction. I know that’s silly, but I’ve craved a performance like this and until they lay another egg I am going to have to ask you to let me enjoy this feeling. The West Coast trips are usually filled with something wacky, but maybe that’s going to end up being that the Celtics actually look like a real basketball team. If that’s the case, look out.