BOSTON — Kristaps Porzingis started off his TD Garden return with a bang. He blocked Jayson Tatum and Neemias Queta at the rim in quick succession, ran the floor, and earned himself a trip to the line. From that point on, however, it was all Boston Celtics.
Tatum finally snapped his cold streak from three-point land on Wednesday night. Boston ran him off flare screens, and he got comfortable pulling up off Queta screens, as the Golden State Warriors dropped just a bit too far back on defense in the pick-and-roll.
He finished the first half shooting an impressive 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. But his 16-point first-half showing was somehow outdone by his superstar teammate, Jaylen Brown.
Brown was unstoppable in the first half, but the first quarter was his magnum opus. Whether it was pull-ups, drives, or turnaround middys, Brown shredded whoever the Warriors tried to put in front of him.
It was an elite display of patience, as he never rushed. He pump-faked in the lane, hung in the air and waited for the shot to open up, and took a methodical approach against Golden State.
The result? A 19-point first quarter on 8-of-9 shooting. He ended the first half with 23 points, four rebounds, and five assists.
Boston walked into the half with a 63-50 lead, but Golden State did its best to hang around. Pat Spencer made some tough shots, but most of the Warriors’ offense derived from impressive cuts around the basket.
They swung the ball around the court beautifully as Draymond Green, Gary Payton II, and Porzingis found a way to keep things moving. The Warriors tallied 14 assists on 20 made shots in the first half. However, Boston held them to just 39.2% shooting from the floor and 25.0% shooting from deep range.
As the third quarter got rolling, the Warriors made things interesting. They scored six unanswered points to start the frame, cutting Boston’s lead down to seven. But the Celtics responded right away.
Green was checking Brown, and he actually found some success, but as soon as Boston found a way to get him switched off, Brown went to work. He nailed an and-one bucket against De’Anthony Melton, and then, it was Tatum’s turn to cook.
The Celtics got into the bonus with 9:00 on the clock, so Tatum earned a trip to the line. And on the next possession, he blew past Porzingis for a tough bucket at the rim. Just like that, the lead was back to 13.
As the rest of the quarter unfolded, Payton Pritchard took center stage. He found a way inside the teeth of Golden State’s defense, draining mid-range buckets and feeding Boston’s bigs in the lane. At the end of the quarter, he even chipped in a three-pointer.
Pritchard finished the quarter with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting (1-of-2 from distance).
The fourth quarter wasn’t about Tautm or Brown as much. It was about everyone (and everything) else. Brown entered the game for Tatum at with just under six minutes to go, but at that point, Boston’s lead had ballooned into 20 points (and beyond).
Pritchard continued his solid scoring night, and Derrick White joined him, sinking a couple of big-time shots at the beginning of the frame.
Baylor Scheierman attacked the glass on both ends, and Queta kept up an impressive night of screening, backing it up with a nice string of buckets.
Golden State hung around with the same offensive cutting that kept them in the game earlier in the night, but it was too little, too late.
The Celtics put the finishing touches on the night, despite the Warriors’ late-game full-court press, and Brown even got free-throw-line MVP chants (as he’s gotten all season). Boston walked out of TD Garden with a comfortable victory.
Big winner: The Celtics didn’t need this game as proof of concept that Tatum and Brown can succeed together. That’s already been proved. But Wednesday night certainly made it even clearer.
Tatum and Brown definitely
