Warriors Vs. Celtics 2/3/2021

The Warriors came into this game coming off of a nice win against the Pistons. In that game the Warriors played extremely well and were able to find a little bit of rhythm. The Celtics last game was a 1 point loss to the Lakers that was down to the wire. Each of these teams last game was 3 days before this one, so each team was well rested. For the Celtics to win this game they needed to have good games out of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker. They would also needed to play good defense. For the Warriors to win this game the Warriors needed to lower their amount of fouls, make sure that none of the Celtics’ stars had a good game, and score a ton of points. James Wiseman was also out with a sprained wrist which made a win require a few more points from the rest of the team. Marcus Smart was out for the Celtics in this game which would likely make their defense much worse. To the game!

The Warriors won the tip-off which led to a Stephen Curry 3. Kemba Walker followed that up with a 2 of his own. At 7:33 Stephen Curry made a 3 to give the Warriors a 5 point lead. At 5:39 Grant Williams made a 3 to tie the game. At 4:43 Wiggins made a 3 to retake the lead. With a minute to go in the quarter Juan Toscano-Anderson made a reverse layup to give the Warriors their first double digit lead. At the end of the first quarter the score was 35-24. The Warriors played an amazing first quarter led by Stephen Curry with 17 points. The Celtics leading scorer was Kemba Walker with 9 after the 1st quarter. The Warriors shot very well in the 1st quarter with 60.9% from 2 and 54.5% from 3. The Celtics didn’t shoot as well with 45.5% from 2 and 22.2% from 3. The Warriors also shared the ball extremely well with 12 assists compared to the Celtics’ 2 assists. The Warriors also had 4 more rebounds than the Celtics in the first quarter. The Warriors played a great first quarter and hoped to carry their momentum into the second quarter.

To start the 2nd quarter the Warriors played good defense and the Celtics got a 24 second violation. For the first points of the 2nd quarter Jayson Tatum made a fadeaway jumper. At 10:49 Kelly Oubre Jr. made a fadeaway jumper for the Warriors first points of the 2nd quarter. At 7:14 Jayson Tatum made a 3 to give the Celtics a 1 point lead. Kelly Oubre Jr. followed that up with a dunk to retake the lead. The Celtics then took back the lead with Tristan Thompson hook shot. The Celtics went on a 17-3 run in the middle of the 2nd quarter. As soon a Steph got back on the court the Warriors retook the lead. Throughout the last 4 minutes of the quarter the Warriors and Celtics went back and forth taking and losing the lead. At the end of the first half the Warriors and Celtics were all tied up at 52. At 1:57 Kevon Looney was subbed out after spraining his ankle. The Warriors didn’t shoot as well in the 2nd quarter with 47.7% from 2 and 41.2% from downtown. The Celtics improved their shooting with 47.6% from the field and 35.3% from deep. The Celtics evened out the rebounding getting 4 more than the Warriors in the second quarter. The Celtics played great defense in the second quarter only giving up 17 points. The Celtics also scored more points in the second quarter than in the first quarter with 28 points. Curry was still leading the Warriors with 22, 6, and 4. Tatum was leading the Celtics with 14, 5, and 1. The Celtics played a great 2nd quarter taking advantage of Stephen Curry being on the bench. To the third!

To start the 3rd quarter Jayson Tatum made a 3 followed by a Wiggins free throw. At 9:32 Daniel Theis made a midrange jumper to give the Celtics a 5 point lead. From 9:32 to 4:07 the Celtics slowly brought their lead up to 9 points. At 4:07 a Juan Toscano-Anderson 3 to lower the deficit to 6 led to Brad Stevens calling a timeout. With 35.4 seconds to go Stephen Curry made a deep 3 to tie the game and give him 30 points on the night. At the end of the 3rd quarter the Celtics were leading 86-85. In the third quarter the Celtics racked up 4 more rebounds than the Warriors and scored 34 points. The Warriors shot 48.4% from 2 and 44.8% from 3. The Celtics shot 49.2% from 2 and 40% from 3. The Warriors went into the 4th quarter needing to rebound better and gain momentum.

To start off the 4th quarter Tatum made a 3 to give the Celtics a 4 point lead. At 10:07 Brad Wannamaker made a 3 to make it a 1 point game once again. At 9:13 Andrew Wiggins got a dunk to give the Warriors the lead. At 6:48 Tatum made a corner 3 to retake the lead for the Celtics. In the heart of the 4th quarter the Celtics went on a 14-2 run. At the 4 minute mark the Celtics took a 10 point lead with a Jaylen Brown dunk. At 3:17 Curry made an crazy layup while getting fouled to lower the Celtic lead to 7 after making the free throws. At the 2 minute mark Curry got fouled while shooting a 3 and after making 3 of 3 free throws the score was 106-102. At the 1 minute mark Andrew Wiggins made a layup on a fast break to lower the Celtic lead to 3. The Celtics closed it out at the end. The final score was 111-107.

Leo’s Courtside Commentary: Stephen Curry had an amazing game with 38 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Jayson Tatum had a great game too with 27 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. James Wiseman having a sprained wrist and Kevon Looney spraining his ankle in the second quarter proved to be the determining factor after the Celtics took over on the rebounding side of the ball after Looney went out. The Celtics shooting splits also improved a lot after Looney’s injury with 46.4% from 2 and 38.2% from 3. The Warriors shot pretty well too with 45.8% from the field and 40.5% from downtown. Turnovers, assists, and steals were all strong suits for the Warriors with 4 less turnovers than the Celtics, 14 more assists, and 6 more steals. One of the Celtics main strong suits in this game was rebounds with 15 more than the Warriors. Overall, this was a game with a great start and a lot of promise for the Warriors but injuries propelled the Celtics to a close win.