The Warriors defeat the Celtics and move to 7-1 before the Cavs showdown

BOSTON — At Golden State Media Day in September, superstar guard Stephen Curry made a bland statement of intent for this season, saying his Warriors are “in a position where we can be a relevant team early and give ourselves a chance.” can add to it.” compete.

“Then judge where we stand.”

On Wednesday night, just weeks after Curry made those comments, he and the Warriors improved their season record to 7-1 and tied for the best record in the Western Conference thanks to a three-way tie with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns, a thrilling 118-112. Victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

But despite a win over the defending champions – in which the Warriors finished the night with the league's third-best offense, second-best defense and best net rating (plus 15.5 points per 100 possessions) – Curry isn't ready to take on Golden State just yet much credit to be given.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Curry, who had 27 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 steals in 34 minutes, said with a wry smile as he sat in the visitors’ locker room about an hour after the game ended. “A good team or a relevant team wins the games they are supposed to win, you steal a few away from good teams, you protect the home pitch. We've done these things so far, but we have two more games on this road trip, two tough tests.

“Of course I like where we are. But there is still a long way to go.”

The Warriors have only played 10 percent of their season so far, but the early results are extremely encouraging. Golden State, which won its first title under Steve Kerr in the 2014-15 season using the “strength in numbers” mantra, has taken that approach to a new level this season, using as many as 13 players on a night. On Wednesday, with Brandin Podziemski sidelined due to illness, Golden State played 11 players – and all of them got at least 13 minutes of playing time.

This gave the Warriors a constant rotation of new defenders to throw at the Celtics, allowing them to wreak havoc on Boston's offense throughout the game. While the Celtics made their usual amount of 3-point shots, going 19 of 54 from behind the arc, they committed 12 turnovers and looked off-balance and off-balance on offense for much of the game in typical fashion Tact Not just this season, but the last few years as well – and especially aside from a 41-point explosion in the third quarter.

“They are physically demanding and force you to fight for space,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They have active hands, so I think they had a lot of distractions in the first half. They were able to do a lot there, but I thought we handled the physicality better in the second half and that's what we just have to do.” In short: We're talking about the physicality, we're just as concerned with the defense as we are with the offense. When we did that, we did really well in the end.”

Notably, a series of possessions occurred after Gary Payton II pounced on a loose ball with 4:18 left in the fourth quarter, giving Golden State the ball and giving Boston a 97-96 lead after Kerr made a quick one called time out. Over the next four minutes, Golden State outscored Boston 15-7 and scored on consecutive possessions to clinch the game, thanks in part to two massive offensive rebounds from Warriors center Kevon Looney, including one after a badly missed airball -Corner 3 from Draymond Green.

It was reminiscent of Looney's dominant performance on the offensive boards in the 2022 NBA Finals, when Golden State defeated Boston in six games to win the title, and underscored the way the Warriors won that game through their physicality and power on both ends of the court .

“The last five minutes I thought our defense really showed up,” Kerr said. “The activity, Gary hit the floor, Loon got two putbacks, those were maybe the two biggest throws of the game. And then Steph found Buddy (Hield) in the corner for that 3, I mean, it was all in sequence. “It just felt like we connected the game, got stops and were able to “To score points and finish the game.”

And as a result, an evening that began with Kerr being booed after what was described as a controversy surrounding his decision not to play for Team USA against Tatum in either of the two games against Serbia during the Americans this summer winning their fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal ended with the Warriors leaving the famous floor victorious.

That the Warriors did so at the start of a formative five-game stretch early in the season that began here on Wednesday before heading to Cleveland and taking on the undefeated Cavaliers on Friday, playing at Oklahoma City on Sunday and then heading to San Francisco in Klay Thompson's return to the Dallas Mavericks ahead of the game against Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies gives their start to the season more credibility than just a flash in the pan.

But while it remains to be seen exactly how long they can continue to play this way — especially when they're using so many players — Curry is enjoying what he's seeing and how the Warriors are doing it.

“Until proven otherwise, this is how we have to play,” Curry said. “And we talked about it. The coach talked about it until he was blue in the face. Every practice, every film session, every pregame, it's the same message. So it's who we are right now, it's who.” It has to be us. Of course you know the rotations get smaller as the season goes on… It gets a little tight in the second half because you're trying to win. But it's fun to put the pieces together because, again, every night is different and everyone has to stay committed and it works.”