Celtics show they can win ugly as they exorcise some demons vs. Warriors

BOSTON -- There's just something about the Golden State Warriors that brings out the worst in the Boston Celtics. And those same self-inflicted wounds that derailed them in last year's NBA Finals were back at TD Garden on Thursday night.

But this time around, the Celtics didn't let a slew of turnovers and mental miscues derail them. And while a regular season win over the Warriors won't erase what happened last June, it's a huge positive to see the Celtics earn a hard-fought win over the one team that has proven to be their Kryptonite. 

It wasn't pretty. The Celtics probably didn't deserve to win Thursday night. But they certainly earned their 121-118 overtime victory over the Warriors, doing so in a way we didn't think was possible.

The Celtics won despite an off night for Jayson Tatum. And Jaylen Brown. They won despite committing 17 turnovers, most of which were of the brutal variety. They survived Steph Curry doing Steph Curry things, like his half-court swish at the halftime buzzer.

A lot went wrong for the Celtics on Thursday night, and most of it was their own doing. Tatum struggled to hit shots throughout the night and led the turnover barrage with seven. Four of those came in the the fourth quarter, and on two instances, he gave the ball away to Golden State for easy buckets in the final five minutes.

Jaylen Brown looked exactly like a player returning from a groin injury, hitting just six of his 18 shots for only 16 points in his 41 minutes. 

Overall, the Celtics shot just 39.8 percent (43-for-108), and the three-ball wasn't falling, with just 13 makes on 41 attempts. Usually when the Celtics are that off offensively, it spells doom. Boston trailed by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter.

But they didn't slump their shoulders and accept a fifth straight loss to the Warriors. They fought, and then they fought some more, even with the turnovers still leading to some frustrating moments.

While Tatum would have been a big reason why the team lost had that been the outcome, he was also a big reason why the Celtics won. He didn't sit after a break in the first quarter and played a career-high 48:07. He pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds to go with six assists, and despite his shooting woes, Tatum still scored 34 points. With his shot not falling, he put his head down and got to the line, hitting all 14 of his freebies. He dropped 21 points over the final 29 minutes, including six over the final five minutes of regulation. He hit a huge three in overtime to give Boston a seven-point lead.

It never would have gotten that far had Brown not also stepped up in crunch time. He hit a three with 18.1 seconds on the clock to send the game to overtime. He scored five points in the extra frame and fed Tatum and Al Horford for threes to help build a big enough lead that the Celtics couldn't blow. He saved the day when Marcus Smart tried to throw away one of Boston's final possessions as they clung to a slim lead.

The stars stepped up when it mattered most, but it was the supporting cast that made it possible as the studs struggled. Horford was huge throughout the whole game, with a pair of chase-down blocks that, unfortunately, quickly turned into Boston turnovers. He was the steadying force when the Celtics needed it early in the game, scoring half of his 20 points in the first quarter. He hit eight of his 13 shots overall and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Robert Williams was also massive, with seven of his 11 rebounds coming on the offensive glass. Boston had 18 offensive rebounds overall, and 22 second-chance points on the night. 

When as many things go wrong as they did Thursday night, it usually leads to a Celtics loss. But the Celtics didn't let it happen again. Thursday night was the first time the team has won this season when shooting under 40 percent. 

It wasn't pretty, but sometimes winning ugly isn't such a bad thing. They don't want to make a habit out of it, but the Celtics now know they can win such games.

"This was a great win in terms of figuring it out," Tatum said. "Nobody besides Al shot great. Besides that it was just toughness plays, moving on to the next, doing whatever it takes to win and those are the most rewarding wins you can have"

"It felt like a playoff game," Brown added. "I don't know about you guys, but their intensity, their force, the way they came, I'm sure that's a game that they wanted to win. We were down what, five to seven in the fourth quarter with four or five minutes left? To be able to have poise and battle back, that shows a lot of growth and that we've been taking steps in the right direction."

It wasn't pretty, but sometimes winning ugly isn't such a bad thing. They don't want to make a habit out of it, but the Celtics now know they can win such games.