The Boston Celtics nearly lost a game that, on paper, they should have won.
With the Golden State Warriors missing Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry for the majority of the season, they’ve been led by All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell. The Warriors jumped the Celtics early, closing the first quarter with a nine-point lead over Boston. By the end of the half, Boston would take a one-point lead with Tatum leading the team with 17 points at halftime but the third-year forward’s fortunes would all big change from there.
However, Russell would exit the game in the third quarter with a sprained right thumb after tallying 12 points and seven assists (along with nine turnovers), leaving guard Alec Burks and forward Eric Paschall to do the heavy lifting late.
Burks would score a team-high 20 points with Paschall not far behind with 16 points. Fortunately for the Warriors, they played strong team defense and were effective stopping nearly every Celtics player, holding what’s now a 10-1 team to 40.7% shooting from the field.
That didn’t matter in the final quarter, with Celtics star point guard Kemba Walker scoring 12 points (on 5-8 shooting from the field) in the fourth quarter (he finished with 20 points) and a suddenly inefficient Tatum scoring two key baskets in the final minutes to extend Boston’s tight lead.
The Celtics, who also got five threes from defensive stalwart Marcus Smart on the night, would win 105-100.
Had Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, scoring eight points on 4-8 shooting from the field in the first half before scoring 14 points on 5-9 shooting from the field in the second half, not been a stable presence for Boston the game might have been different though.
Brown, notching his career-best fourth straight game with at least 20 points, continues to play well on both ends of the floor and it’s not a stretch to say he’s playing the best basketball of any Celtics player right now.
Boston’s next game will be against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.