What to watch: Warriors visit Celtics, and Kevin Durant is a super villain
The superstar said Wednesday that he has no attachment to Boston
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3 min read
Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors will visit TD Garden on Friday for the first time since the superstar hung out with Tom Brady and the Boston Celtics' recruiting contingent in the Hamptons in early July. They will bring a five-game winning streak with them, fresh off a 127-121 victory in Toronto on Wednesday that put a real damper on Drake Night. Boston, meanwhile, is just 6-5 on the season, but it has won three of its past four games.
How to watch
When: Friday, 8 p.m. ET
Who: Boston Celtics
Where: TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
TV: ESPN
Streaming: WatchESPN
What to watch for
Can Boston's defense come back to life?
One of the most surprising storylines of the season has been the Celtics' slippage on defense. After finishing fifth in defensive rating last season, they are down to 17th now, and that is a major improvement over where they ranked a few days ago.
As noted in our Warriors preview for the week, Boston challenged Golden State last season mostly by playing tough, disciplined defense. Celtics guards Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley were extremely physical with the Splash Brothers, and they handed the Warriors their first loss at Oracle Arena in April while rarely switching.
Some of Boston's drop-off can be attributed to injury problems. Big man Al Horford (concussion) and forward Jae Crowder (sprained ankle) have been out and it's unclear if they will be ready to play against Golden State. This would be a nice time to get them back, and it would also be a nice time for Boston to rediscover its defense-first identity.
Durant the villain
Durant is not going to get a warm reception in Boston. Not only did he choose to join a superteam instead of signing there, Crowder called it a "slap in the face" and declared that Golden State is "for sure the villain of the league" in the summer.
"What can they be mad about?" Durant said Wednesday, via Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News. "I never played there, I never said I was going there. They're going to support their team. It's one of the best fan bases in the league. Top five, easily. So no matter who goes in there, they're going to boo them. But I have no attachment to Boston at all."
In the same scrum, Durant said Crowder's comments didn't bother him. Still, if Crowder is healthy and playing, it's hard to imagine Durant not getting a little extra joy out of scoring on him.
Iguodala finding his form?
When Andre Iguodala talked to CSN's Ros Gold-Onwude after the win over the Raptors, he noted that it was his first time doing a postgame interview this season. "I just figured out you gotta make shots to be interviewed," Iguodala joked.
Entering that game, the swingman was shooting 4 for 22 from 3-point range, and those misses were mostly on open shots. Against Toronto, though, he made all four of his field-goal attempts and two of them were from long range. Progress!
If Iguodala starts converting these looks at the rate that he has for the past two years, then the already-terrifying Warriors offense is going to be even better. Boston must hope his last game was a fluke rather than the start of something.
Isaiah vs. Steph
The best individual matchup in this game is pretty obvious: Stephen Curry vs. Isaiah Thomas. Thomas will not guard Curry for the entire game -- coach Brad Stevens would be silly to do that with Bradley and Smart on the roster -- but part of the Celtics' strategy should be to make the back-to-back Most Valuable Player work on the other end. Thomas has certainly done that before, and he's capable of putting pressure on Golden State's interior defense, too.
When Boston beat the Warriors last season, the third quarter was a thrilling duel between these two All-Stars. Thomas scored 18 points in less than 10 minutes, shooting 7 for 9, while Curry played the entire period and scored 21 points, going 6 for 6 from 3-point range. More of that, please.
