Celtics Exit Warriors Loss Happy with Process Despite Lost Opportunities

One possession encapsulated the Celtics’ latest loss to the Warriors more than any other. It involved five misses, two at the rim and three from outside. Derrick White started it with 1:21 remaining in a tied fourth quarter, stepping into a three that bounced out to Jayson Tatum, who forced another. White’s next look from Jrue Holiday went up wide open in the same spot before the Celtics swung two passes to Jaylen Brown, who missed at the rim. Al Horford botched a fifth-chance tip at the rim before the Warriors won, 132-126, in overtime.

“I liked (the shot selection),” Joe Mazzulla said. “We missed 20 layups in that game and 41 threes, and they went on their run in the non-Curry minutes … we lost the lead in transition, some offensive rebounds … I thought we got great looks the entire night and just didn’t make them.”

Boston broke a franchise record for missed threes in the loss and many were good looks, as Mazzulla typically emphasizes. Layups, turnovers and bad reads powered Golden State’s transition attack. Yet while Steph Curry and Chris Paul stepped into open three-pointers around a failed Celtics out-of-bounds challenge, they missed both and Tatum jogged the ball into the half court, attacking Jonathan Kuminga unsuccessfully and forcing a three over his contest. Mazzulla later said he considered a timeout, but felt they were on the same page.

Brown wasn’t totally on board with Boston’s approach after, noticing the Celtics lose their offensive balance as they tried to exploit Steph Curry’s foul trouble. The Warriors outscored Boston 16-14 over the final six minutes of the third after he exited the game with five. Brown inflicted three of them by attacking him inside the arc, while later, Golden State showed multiple bodies each time Tatum lined him up and tried to exploit him. That led to a night where he shot 5-for-17, hobbled by an early ankle injury. Tatum and Brown served seven assists against a Warriors defense that played them to pass while White and Horford attempted 28 threes alone.

“They did a good job of hiding him,” Brown said. “We were trying to put him in actions … I felt like if we would’ve just played, instead of looking around, maybe we would’ve been able to attack but we were trying to put him in certain actions and I think that kind of hurt us. For the most part, I thought we were intentional tonight about how we wanted to go about attacking the matchups and we got a lot of wide open looks. We just came up short.”

Curry survived the entire fourth quarter and overtime without fouling out, leading an 11-point comeback in less than 10 minutes. The Celtics missed Kristaps Porziņģis again in crunch time, they’re now 9-5 in those circumstances, but lost late in Indiana, snuck past a 76ers team without Joel Embiid and rolled past them with Embiid active thanks to Horford and White threes, and a three-point Tatum finish in November. That puts Boston at 2-2 in clutch games without Porziņģis. With a similar look emerging in those circumstances. ‘

Other second-guesses from Tuesday:

• The Celtics rank 24th in attempts per game at the rim (24.2), and while they approached 30 around the restricted area on Tuesday, 19 of them came in a 40-30 first quarter win before taking nine inside the restricted zone for the rest of the game. They won the free throw battle, but only generated 17 while allowing 14 Golden State attempts. They gave away 18 offensive rebounds despite grabbing 18, and six came on Celtics grabbing their own two-point misses and four came on the penultimate possession of the fourth. Horford drew only his ninth and 10th free throws of the year attacking Curry, his 16th-17th since March.
• Mazzulla’s lost challenge at the end of regulation came after an enormous run of success, but he passed on the opportunity to take a look at a made Payton Pritchard corner three called out-of-bounds with Boston ahead 106-99. He took a long look at Matt Reynolds, who handles the Celtics’ challenges, and with three timeouts and 7:31 remaining, Mazzulla held off. Another opportunity emerged on a charging call by Brown drawn by Curry, who would’ve fouled out with 3:16 remaining if reversed. Boston still had three timeouts, with one going away moments later under three minutes anyway. The out-of-bounds call the Celtics ended up challenging could’ve set up a game-winner, but it failed and Paul missed the ensuing shot anyway.
• Oshae Brissett made three shots in five minutes, a cutting dunk and two breakout scores following Celtics steals, while Tatum went to the locker room in the first quarter. He didn’t play again for the rest of the night, with Svi Mykhailiuk closing the first quarter for two minutes and sitting from that point on too. Neemias Queta posted 10 points and 10 rebounds with the Celtics opting to play larger for a second straight game after finding a way to win in smaller, faster lineups with cutters on Friday against Orlando.
• Horford shot 4-for-14, missed seven threes and allowed Golden State to enact its aggressive defense against Tatum, who never looked right. Brown took five shots between the fourth and overtime after setting a downhill, attacking tone early while balancing his scoring with seven assists and four turnovers.
• Boston missed 12 straight shots in the second quarter with an 11-point lead, made one field goal over the final five minutes of regulation and began overtime 0-for-4 trading jump shot misses with Golden State before Jonathan Kuminga and Trayce Jackson-Davis dunked to go ahead four on Horford miscues.
• I’ll toss in Jackson-Davis, the 57th pick in the draft who posted 10 points and 13 rebounds as a Celtics second-guess too. He topped my draft board of favorite second-round prospects before Boston traded up into the first round in the Porziņģis deal and eventually back into the second round, where they got Jordan Walsh.

It’s one loss — and Mazzulla acknowledged many possessions they would like back as an acknowledgement of one that got away from the Celtics. They led by as many as 17 points and Draymond Green, Gary Payton II and eventually Brandin Piedziemski’s injuries impact the Warriors as much as Porziņģis’ and whatever role Tatum’s played in his struggles. These nights happen, but this one again looked familiar and pronounced. Other teams don’t play Tatum like that, the Curry foul trouble undoubtedly trapped a previously rolling offense and yes, they missed shots. That’ll happen in the spring though, and as Boston put its head down and played its game, the Warriors adjusted.

A loss like this could prove devastating in a May series. And losing any series short of June would become the biggest Celtics lost opportunity yet.