Possible NBA Finals preview? The Golden State Warriors edge out the Boston Celtics slightly at Oracle, but how did it go down?
The game between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics went almost exactly how you would have expected it go.
Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry battled it out all night on offense going back and forth; Kyrie would finish with 37 and Curry with 49. Neither of the guards had nothing short of insane performances, making incredible shot after incredible shot. Nothing could contain either of them tonight, and it was a spectacle to watch.
The excitement didn’t stop there, though.
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Jaylen Brown had a stellar performance putting up 20 and held Klay Thompson in check all night. Al Horford also had himself a night putting up 15 points and 13 rebounds and a stellar night on the defensive end. Really all around, Boston had really good night on defense. They held the defending champs to 109 at home while they shot only 45 percent from the floor. That’s pretty good, especially when Boston continues to get thinner on the season.
Warriors played well, of course, and that is why they won. Their defense came alive after the first quarter where Boston would fail to match their first quarter output the rest of the night. What really led Golden State to the win, as well, was Boston going dormant in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, putting up less than 20 in both frames.
Durant and Klay had poor nights on offense as well, but Kevin Durant made some shots late, including free throws, to seal the deal.
Ultimately, what led to Boston’s demise was a few things. The offense going dormant in the middle of the game played a big portion of that, and that was mostly because of Jayson Tatum.
The rooke had one of his worse games a Celtic. Tatum shot 2-7 from the floor and failed to hit a 3 all night. He held KD in check defensively, but Boston needed some type of offense output from him when Kyrie was on the bench, and they didn’t get any.
It’s never great to bring the refs into the equation, but Kyrie had a couple drives late in the game that ended in no calls. Yes, they were ticky-tac fouls, but when Golden State ended up getting the same ones on the other end, it becomes frustrating.
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All in all, tonight was probably one of the best game of the season. This was possibly an NBA Finals preview, and we definitely saw the two best teams in the NBA on the court together Saturday night. Even if Gordon Hayward was in a suit and tie.