Klay Thompson, dominant defense push Warriors past Celtics: Takeaways
Golden State is in a real groove now
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3 min read
The Golden State Warriors disposed of the Boston Celtics with a 104-88 victory at the TD Garden on Friday. Now 10-2 and winners of their last six games, the Warriors are on a roll.
Klay Thompson continued his hot streak with a game-high 28 points on 12-for-21 shooting, and Golden State broke the game open by outscoring Boston 31-9 in the third quarter. The game was not nearly as close as the final score would suggest.
Takeaways:
The Warriors can be terrifying
You've seen this kind of third quarter from Golden State before. It was the kind of quarter where you wonder how any team ever even competes against this team. The Warriors went on a 24-3 run, and the Celtics were repeatedly punished for turning the ball over. Here's how the lead went from 17 to 22 faster than you can say Zaza Pachulia:
Speaking of Pachulia, the big man hit a jumper during that run and then did something I've never seen from him before. I'm not even sure how to describe this:
ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy hated it, and there were probably plenty of people who thought it was arrogant and unnecessary. Those descriptions might be accurate, but I am fundamentally pro-celebration when it comes to sports, so I have no choice but to use this platform to encourage more of this type of behavior. Go, Zaza, go.
Golden State's defense deserves your attention
Much has been made of the Warriors' lack of rim protection, but you can make up for this if you have their length and collective basketball IQ. When Kevin Durant and Draymond Green are on the court, Golden State isn't exactly small -- both of them are superb one-on-one defenders with the ability to change shots around the basket.
The Warriors held the Celtics to 37.3 percent shooting and 92 points per 100 possessions. This is dominant stuff against a team that entered the game ranked No. 7 in offensive rating. Sure, Boston was missing Al Horford and Jae Crowder, but this was still impressive.
With all of the scoring weapons Golden State has, the prospect of this super team finding its rhythm defensively is a nightmare for opposing teams. Essentially, if you're a Warriors fan, you should be feeling like this right now:
That baby is a much better dancer than Pachulia.
Stat of the night
Golden State had 33 assists on 44 made field goals. This has to make coach Steve Kerr happy, and the balance is what the Warriors envisioned when it added Durant.
Remember when Stephen Curry, Thompson and Durant scored 30, 30 and 29 points, respectively, in Golden State's win over the Phoenix Suns? In this game, nobody reached 30, but Green had eight assists, Durant had seven assists and Curry had seven assists. Not bad.
Klay is in a groove
Since the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers two weeks ago, Thompson has averaged 22.7 points while making 52.4 percent of his field goals, including 46.5 percent of his 3-pointers. Through 12 games, it looks like Thompson's performance will be a pretty good barometer for how Golden State is functioning as a unit. As he has settled into a groove, so has the team.
Another notch on Kerr's belt
This was Kerr's 150th win as a head coach, and this is the quickest that anybody has hit that mark in NBA history -- he did it in just 176 games. This is as good a reminder as any that the Warriors have been historically successful in the last three seasons, and Kerr should get some of the credit for it.
Bradley on the boards
Look, I want to say something positive about Boston and this game didn't give me a ton of material. One thing worth noting, though: Avery Bradley finished the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds. This isn't even unusual anymore -- Bradley is averaging 8.8 rebounds this year.
It's not clear if this is sustainable, but it's crazy! Bradley is a 6-foot-2 shooting guard who had never averaged more than 3.8 rebounds in any of his six previous seasons. No one could have predicted this.
