BOSTON — The Golden State Warriors defended their manner again into the sport in Boston on Wednesday night time following a shaky begin. They held the Celtics scoreless for a virtually six-minute stretch. They had been up 37-33 with 5 minutes left in a low-scoring first half, successful due to focus and recreation plan self-discipline.
That’s when a defensive rebound bounced into Steph Curry’s fingers following one other cease. Jayson Tatum and Derrick White had retreated in transition. Kyle Anderson was a couple of steps forward, sufficient that Curry felt he ought to try a low-percentage landing go excessive. White tipped the go into a simple steal.
“The hit-ahead go to the opposite group?” Kerr smirked when reminded of the possession after the sport.
Right here’s the play.
Inside seconds, the Celtics had turned a transition counterpunch into an open 3. It was a five-point swing, as Kerr referred to as it, in a highway recreation in opposition to the defending champs. The second Curry threw the go, Kerr yelped on the mistake. After the Celtics cashed in on it, he referred to as timeout and lit into Curry with a fury.
Right here’s the digicam view of Kerr’s response from NBC:
Steve Kerr wasn’t pleased with Steph Curry after this second-quarter turnover 😳 pic.twitter.com/SciAPNvNNQ
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) November 7, 2024
The Warriors went on to beat the Celtics 118-112, the signature win of their 7-1 stampede to open this season. There are a ton of optimistic sequences that delivered the end result. Gary Payton II modified the sport along with his defensive exercise. Anderson drilled three straight 3s when Joe Mazzulla had his Celtics sag off him. Moses Moody closed the primary half on a 5-0 run. Kevon Looney had two fourth-quarter put-backs to maintain the Warriors forward. Buddy Hield sealed the win with a clutch nook 3.
However it was that Curry blunder and the aftermath which may greatest showcase why the Warriors seem like in such a wholesome state to open this season. Kerr, who these within the group mentioned entered Hawaii coaching camp with a stage of demand and vigor they hadn’t seen the final couple of seasons, continues to harp on the main points of successful basketball.
“This can be a theme with our group,” Kerr mentioned. “We will’t be the identical group we had been 5 – 6 years in the past and provides away 5 – 6 possessions within the identify of making chaos.”
When the Warriors had Kevin Durant — when their stars had been of their primes — they might flip it over 20 occasions and nonetheless beat an opponent by 20 factors. They’d a margin for error that not exists, even when the hard-to-eliminate habits nonetheless do.
“Everybody else is enjoying quick and taking pictures 3s, too, lately,” Kerr mentioned. “Boston shot 20 extra 3s than we did within the second half. So it’s robust to win in case you are making a gift of possessions. I’ve been throughout Steph and Draymond. It’s incumbent upon them as a result of they’re our leaders they usually’re the fellows who deal with the ball most. They gotta reduce on their unhealthy selections like that.”
That second-quarter turnover allowed Kerr to ship Curry a loud reminder. One or two performs like that in opposition to the Celtics may very well be deadly.
“The wonder with Steph is he lets me yell at him, which units the tone,” Kerr mentioned. “He accepted it. He knew it.”
When requested in regards to the interplay, Curry made positive to proudly remind that, “I didn’t have one other turnover after that.”
“It’s a mindset that, one, I wish to be coached identical to everybody else,” Curry mentioned. “I don’t get delicate about getting yelled at for those who make a dumb play. Particularly as a result of it led to a 3 on the opposite finish. It’s avoidable. Now we have to have the ability to deal with possessions. Me and Draymond are going to have turnovers. Now we have the ball in our fingers quite a bit, gonna take probabilities right here and there. However there are turnovers like that the place even when (Anderson) catches it, it’s a troublesome play.”
The strict classes are making an influence on their newer teammates. Within the third quarter, Hield let Tatum go proper when the sport plan demanded they power him left. There was a foul. There was a whistle. There was a dialogue that included Jonathan Kuminga and Inexperienced and new defensive coordinator Jerry Stackhouse.
There was some frustration. However later within the recreation, when Hield was on the ground for his taking pictures and scoring, the Celtics focused him in switches to get Tatum in opposition to him. He held up higher in opposition to the assault and funneled him into assist higher, following the sport plan guidelines. On the opposite finish, it paid off. Hield had an enormous layup and a backbreaking 3 in crunch time.
“Stack is on me. Draymond is on me. All people’s on me,” Hield mentioned. “I’m simply studying from them and constructing championship habits. That’s what they’re all the time preaching. Championship habits … (It’s about) being detail-oriented and having no mind farts.
Curry tried to downplay the win after the sport, saying they’ve “completed nothing.” No four-time champion goes to overreact eight video games into an 82-game common season. However this win felt validating for the Warriors’ veterans and decision-makers, an indication that this scorching begin (which adopted an encouraging preseason) had some substance to it.
“What do you suppose?” Hield mentioned. “It’s a press release. If we don’t win, everyone says, ‘Oh, they ain’t performed no one.’ You gotta come make a press release, proper?”
Hield scored one other 16 factors off the bench. Looney’s 10 rebounds in 16 minutes included the 2 largest offensive rebound put-backs of the night time. Payton had an acrobatic fourth-quarter steal that appeared to show momentum and, as he scrambled for the free ball, Kerr bounced off the bench with some juice to name a wise timeout. Each Looney and Payton look significantly better bodily this season, offering Curry with the kind of supplementary assist that’s allowed him to ease into the season.
This was the primary time Curry has eclipsed half-hour in a recreation. He didn’t want to seem within the fourth quarter of the Portland and Utah blowouts to open the season, sprained his ankle within the third recreation, missed the subsequent three and had a 24-minute restriction in Washington, D.C., on Monday night time.
However with the competitors cranked up and the rotation round him offering a practical shot to get a highway win in Boston, Curry turned it up within the second half and Kerr (and Rick Celebrini) gave him the inexperienced mild for 34 minutes. He had 27 factors, 4 steals and 9 assists, together with the drive and site of Hield for that nook 3 proper in entrance of controlling proprietor Joe Lacob, who double fist-pumped when the win was clinched.
(Prime picture of Steph Curry driving to the basket in opposition to Derrick White and Al Horford: Adam Glanzman / Getty Photographs)