Celtics show connectivity, unlock their true potential in blowout win over Warriors
BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics were at their best form on Monday as the team absolutely thrashed the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. Boston's 40-point win was the team's second-biggest of the season, a much-needed follow-up to one of the team's worst loss of the campaign.
Consistency has been the biggest issue for the Celtics over the last several weeks, as the defending champs haven't won two straight since their last West Coast road trip at the start of 2025. Boston followed up each of their previous four wins with disheartening losses, including a 119-115 overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night where they blew the game in the final seconds of regulation.
While most have chalked up the struggles of the team to a midseason malaise following last year's title run, there were some concerning trends developing in those defeats. The three-ball wasn't falling enough for the Celtics to win the battle of arithmetic every night, and the team's passing wasn't as crisp or effective. Add in a few brain cramps along the way, and the Celtics were just 7-7 over their last 14 games leading up to Monday's tilt.
Then they went out and demolished the Warriors on their home court in resounding fashion. Six Celtics scored in double digits, led by 22 points from Jayson Tatum (to go with nine rebounds and seven assists) and 18 from Kristaps Porzingis. Payton Pritchard (14 points) and Sam Hauser (11 points) hit double figures off the bench. Jaylen Brown was an efficient 8-of-14 from the floor and 1-of-3 from deep, after he had shot just 39 percent overall and 23 percent from three over his last seven games.
And while Derrick White was not part of the double digit group, he too got out of his shooting funk by going 3-of-5 overall and 2-of-4 from deep for eight points. White also stuffed the stat sheet with five rebounds, five assists, and a trio of blocks. Jrue Holiday also shook off his Saturday night mental lapse -- when he fouled Trae Young to put him at the line late in a two-point game -- to go 4-of-5 for 10 points.
The Celtics were 20-of-48 from downtown on Monday, just the fourth time the team has hit over 40 percent from three over the last 11 games. While it was nice to see all those shots go through the hoop, it was what led to those makes that really hammered home that the Celtics were back.
The Celtics created the majority of those long-range strikes, as the team racked up assists on six of their seven made threes in the first half and all eight of their threes in the third quarter. Boston had 33 assists for the game, well over their 25.3 assist per game average.
Mix in some stellar defense throughout, as the Warriors were held to a season-low 85 points off 34.8 percent shooting, and it was the kind of game head coach Joe Mazzulla has been waiting to see from his squad for weeks.
"I just thought the game was connected," Mazzulla said after the win. "I thought we were really focused on our game plan and execution. I thought that led to great shots, and I think the connectivity of that kind of kept that energy going. Obviously, they had some poor shooting, but I thought we were pretty intentional on the things that lead to winning against them: transition, taking away, cuts, offensive rebounds."
Celtics take control over Warriors with third-quarter run
The Celtics led by 15 at halftime, but you never really know which Celtics team is going to come out of the break.
On Monday, Boston took complete control of the game after the half, racing out to a 25-10 run over the first six minutes. The rout was on as Tatum and Brown combined for 21 points over their 11 minutes in the third, while the Warriors scored just 24 points in the frame.
Kristaps Porzingis coming on strong
The Boston big man has really started to light things up. He had 23 points in last Friday's win over the Magic, and after getting Saturday night off, dropped 18 points and seven rebounds in his 22 minutes against the Warriors.
Porzingis scored eight of his points in the first quarter to help Boston build an 11-point edge. He's been getting off to fast starts as of late, averaging 9.8 points in the first quarter over his last six games.
Porzingis was 6-of-13 overall and 3-of-7 from downtown on Monday, creating mismatches the Warriors couldn't handle. The Celtics are at their best when Porzingis is in rhythm, and he's really been feeling it in January. Porzingis has averaged 19.4 points off 48 percent shooting and 46.7 percent from deep, and has scored at least 18 points in each of his last seven games.
Kerr, Curry say don't worry about the Celtics
While Monday was an uplifting win, now the key is for Boston to build off it and win two straight for the first time since back-to-back road wins over the Timberwolves and Rockets on Jan 2 and 3. The up-and-down nature of this month has some folks in Boston worried the Celtics may not have what it takes to repeat as champions when the summer rolls around.
But Steve Kerr and Steph Curry know something about repeating as champs, and the two Warriors believe the Celtics have nothing to be worried about.
"The NBA season is such a long haul. If you go to the Finals it's over 100 games," Kerr said before the game. "And so, if you go to the Finals and come back the next year, you're right back at base camp, and that's intimidating. Especially for the Celtics, they've been at it for seven, eight years, playing deep into the postseason.
"It's perfectly natural for them to have a little bit of an emotional hangover and maybe not be at their best game after game," Kerr added. "I've seen that a million times in this league. But, what I would expect is, come playoff time, they'll be ready to roll. They've still got guys in their primes, well-oiled machine, well-coached, they know who they are. So I wouldn't worry about the Celtics if I were one of their fans."
The Warriors were the last team to repeat as NBA champs when they went back-to-back in 2017 and 2018. Curry has won four rings during his Hall of Fame career, and agreed with Kerr's pregame assessment of Boston.
"It's a marathon of a season; you do have a championship kind of aura about you and you can kind of carry that, but you're getting everybody's best shot every night. Teams spent all summer trying to figure out how to beat you because you're the one that was holding up the trophy," Curry said after being held to 18 points off 6-of-16 shooting. "And now, you're kind of held to a championship standard knowing that you've accomplished it.
"So there are gonna be lulls throughout the season. It kind of happens. But you try to get to the playoffs with a good identity, good momentum, good confidence, good health, and then you just roll the dice trying to run it back," continued Curry.
"I don't know what people expected," Curry added of the Celtics. "They're 30-13. They're doing alright."
Boston is currently second in the Eastern Conference, 6.5 games behind the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers. Only the Cavs and the 35-7 Oklahoma City Thunder have better records than the Celtics this season.
The Celtics continue their West Coast swing on Wednesday night when they take on the L.A. Clippers, followed by a visit to the L.A. Lakers on Thursday night.
