On November 19, 2019, the Warriors dropped a close game to the Boston Celtics, 105-100, since then, a lot has changed in Golde State. The Warriors frontcourt has changed with Willie Cauley-Stein leaving, and both, Marquese Chriss and Omari Spellman have arrived.
Another factor that will be different in round two against Boston is the return of D’Angelo Russell. The 23-year-old All-Star injured his thumb against the Celtics, causing him to miss a handful of games.
To help preview the Warriors’ second game of a five-game east coast road trip, Warriors Wire caught up with neighboring site, Celtics Wire editor, Justin Quinn.
Warriors Wire asked Quinn three questions before the Warriors tipped off in Boston on Thursday night:
1) What’s changed since they last met?
The Boston Celtics were on game 10 of a 10-game winning streak when they last played the Golden State Warriors and had just started to believe the hype they generated for performing above most analyst and fan expectations. That might have been part of the problems that caused Boston to drop three of their next five games (injuries started to pile up as well). However, by then, they’d cemented their status as a fringe contender in a year most assumed they’d take a step back after the summer’s exodus of talent.
Since then, injuries have been a much bigger problem than the supposedly faulted frontcourt rotation, with head coach Brad Stevens’ wing-heavy style of play proving you don’t actually need a big, bruising post presence to compete at the highest levels save for a handful of teams.
Ironically, the Celtics cribbed this approach from the team they’ll face Thursday, the Warriors having blazed the trail of the modern iteration of small ball. That they’ll likely be as favored as ever against the former behemoth brought low by injuries is only compounded by the fact that the Dubs have traded away one of their most talented healthy players in center Willie Caulie-Stein.
2) What it will take for each team to win?
Looking at the records of the two franchises squaring off at TD Garden Jan. 29, it’d be far too easy to write off the Dubs in their diminished state. But the Celtics have a tendency to “feel out” games they have no business losing, seeing which among their starters has a wet shot on a particular night.
In a way, it’s an understandable reaction to the dashed hopes of the previous season, at least some of which was driven by too many hungry mouths and the agendas — and looming free agencies — stimulating those appetites.
So, the tendency to defer to the hot hand might be praiseworthy if not for the growing number of slow starts resulting in avoidable losses, but Boston will need to get out of their own way more than anything else to secure the win.
Conversely, if Golden State can punch the Celtics in the mouth hard and early while keeping their energy up and fundamentals crisp, they have a real shot at the upset. Third-year swingman Jayson Tatum is questionable with a strained groin, and with reserve centers, Enes Kanter and Robert Williams III out, the Dubs’ frontcourt may not be at as significant a disadvantage as they might otherwise be.
3) Is there anything else we should know about the matchup, or the Celtics?
When the two teams last met, it was without veteran forward Gordon Hayward, who broke his hand after colliding with big man LaMarcus Aldridge three games prior in a win over the San Antonio Spurs, and the wheels were just starting to come off of Boston’s red-hot start. Hayward was — and has become again — a confident slasher able to attack the cup or hit an open jumper when his teammates’ gravity gives opponents Sophie’s choice driving the Celtics’ success.
If Tatum is unable to play — and the Warrior’s record may encourage Boston to rest him again given the high recurrence rate of strained groins — at least some of that dynamic may be neutralized. But should the Duke product be cleared to play, with Hayward averaging over 20 points a game over the last several contests, it could also be something of a nightmarish proposition for a Golden State team on the road.