SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors’ second time playing the defending champion Boston Celtics was far different than the first.
When a much-healthier Warriors team battled the Kristaps Porzingis-less Celtics in Boston on Nov. 6, their eighth game of the 2024-25 NBA season, Golden State came out on top by six points. Three minutes into the second half Monday at Chase Center, the Warriors trailed by 23 points on their way to a 125-85 blowout loss.
Steph Curry watched the entire fourth quarter from the bench, scoring 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting and was 4 of 12 from 3-point range in 27 minutes. The rest of the starting five combined to score 18 points.
Steph from downtown 💦
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) January 20, 2025
In every single facet of the game, the Celtics were far and away the better team. The Celtics dominated behind the 3-point line and inside the paint. They swatted nine shot attempts, owned the glass and took advantage whenever the Warriors turned the ball over.
After back-to-back wins in their previous two games, the Warriors have yet to have a three-game win streak since Nov. 10 through Nov. 15.
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Here are three takeaways from a rough loss to begin a four-game week.
For the 24th time in 42 games this season, Warriors coach Steve Kerr used a different starting lineup. With Draymond Green out at least another week because of a mild calf strain he sustained Saturday night in the Warriors’ win against the Washington Wizards, Gary Payton II was part of the starting five for the fifth time this season.
Payton took the Warriors’ first two shots of the game, missing a corner three and a layup, but he immediately was everywhere on the court. In the first quarter, Payton grabbed three rebounds but only played four minutes. He played eight-plus minutes in the first half and was a minus-2 with two points, four rebounds and two assists.
GP2 completes the deep ball to TJD 😅
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) January 20, 2025
His final tally was two points, three rebounds, three assists and one steal in 12 minutes.
Inserting Payton into the starting lineup was a defensive decision to get the Celtics off their game early. But it also meant two non-shooters to begin the game. The starting five played just over seven minutes together and the group was a minus-10, being outscored 23-13.
Ice cold.
That’s the easiest and most direct way to explain the Warriors’ 3-point shooting against the Celtics. It started off terribly for the Warriors and didn’t get much better. The Warriors were 1 of 12 from deep in the first quarter while the Celtics made five of their 12 attempts, a 12-point advantage as Boston led by 11 points after the first quarter.
Back-to-back KP threes to start the afternoon 🔥 pic.twitter.com/igZT5VrYpM
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 20, 2025
Six Warriors attempted a three in the first quarter, and only Curry, who was 1 of 4, connected. Three Warriors shot multiple threes and failed to make one. In the second quarter, it took nearly five minutes for the Warriors to make their second three of the game. At halftime, they were 3 of 24 (12.5 percent as a team).
And it’s not like the Celtics were shooting the lights out. They were 7 of 24 (29.2 percent) on threes for the first half, but that 12-point advantage again was a big difference to give them a 15-point lead at halftime.
But the Celtics found their stroke in the third quarter, going 8 of 12 in a 43-point quarter. The Celtics wound up making six more threes than the Warriors (20 made threes to 14) and shot 15.3 percent better (41.7 percent compared to a lowly 26.4 percent).
Curry went to the bench for the first time at the 3:35 mark of the first quarter. The Warriors trailed 19-17. They scored one point the rest of the quarter, and the Celtics went on a 14-1 run as the Warriors missed four consecutive shots.
Did it get any better in the second quarter? No. Just take a look at these plus/minus numbers halfway through the game.
Warriors down 54-39 at halftime Steph Curry: +2 Dennis Schroder: -19 Andrew Wiggins: -15 Trayce Jackson-Davis: -13 Moses Moody: -13 Buddy Hield: -9
— Dalton Johnson (@daltonjohnson.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 3:10 PM
A team-wide god-awful third quarter made Curry a minus-15 for the game. By then, though, the rest of the starting lineup was a minus-10 for Payton, minus-21 for Trayce Jackson-Davis and minus-29 for both Dennis Schroder and Andrew Wiggins.
Curry surely didn’t have his usual performance. Nobody came close to stepping up in Curry’s off-night, though. This has been an ongoing issue that is only going to get worse as the soon-to-be 37-year-old receives needed nights off the rest of the way.
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