BOSTON — Jaylen Brown scored 29 points, Jayson Tatum scored 27 points on his 26th birthday, and the NBA’s best Boston Celtics defeated the exhausted Golden State Warriors 140-88 on Sunday for the first time in franchise history. This was the third-largest winning margin.
Peyton Pritchard added 19 points for the Celtics, who led by more than 50 points and set a new league record with their third win of the season, extending their season-best winning streak to 11 games. Boston led by a franchise-record 44 points at halftime and pushed it up to 51 points early in the third quarter before coach Joe Mazzula ruled him out for the rest of the game.
“It’s a great feeling, but at the same time I’m constantly humbled,” Brown said. “We don’t take the game for granted. We’re not here to play pranks. That’s just the respect we have for this game. We take care of business. And we’ll handle it. … With a lot of respect for the Golden State Warriors, we feel like this is our time.”
Stephen Curry did not play in the second half and finished with a season-low four points for Golden State, which was three points in 16 minutes against Boston on March 16, 2022 (a game in which he left with a foot injury). This is the lowest recorded number since. Curry made 2-of-13 from the field Sunday, but missed all nine of his 3-pointers, including consecutive air balls in the first quarter.
“When you watch them play, they seem very confident in their identity and who they are,” Curry said. “Give them credit. Tonight they came out and yelled at us from the jump ramp, and it was one wild perfect storm. [day] They’re on our side and they’re bringing it to us. ”
It was the Warriors’ fourth-worst loss in franchise history. They have won 11 of 13 games, including the first three games of an East Coast road trip that included three games in four days and an arduous trip to Toronto where they sat on the tarmac for hours. was.
Lester Quinones led Golden State with 17 points in a team-high 33 minutes. None of the Warriors’ starters played more than 20 minutes, and Moses Moody (11 points) was the only one to score in double figures.
“We lost,” Draymond Green said. “Let’s wash it off and move on.”
Boston’s only big wins were a 133-77 victory over Chicago on December 8, 2018, and a 128-75 victory over Sacramento on January 25, 2022.
Celtics forward Kristaps Porzingis missed the game with a bruised left quadriceps.
The game was tied 21-all in the first quarter, but the Celtics scored the next 14 points to take a 58-13 lead and take a 35-point lead late in the second quarter.
Brown opened the scoring with three straight threes in a 40-second span, and Green left him alone and played some interesting defense, dropping at least 5 feet on several occasions in the first quarter.
“We told Jalen, ‘If they’re going to keep doing that, they should shoot 20, 30 threes,'” Pritchard said.
Brown scored 19 points in the period, connecting on 5 of 8 threes, giving Boston a 44-22 lead.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Brown said of the defensive laxity. “Honestly, I was a little surprised. It took a little bit of time to adjust, but I think we made the most of it and did our best, whatever that attempt was.
“If you want me to shoot, we can do that too,” he added. “I thought it was a little disrespectful, but we took advantage of it and never looked back.”
Curry, who was suspected of having bursitis in his right knee, decided to play after warming up. He made the first three at the front rim, then airballed the next two.
“Boston was great. We just couldn’t beat them today,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “It wasn’t a day off for Steph, but he probably could have had one. He’s played very well for a very long time this year, so he’ll have a few more days to recharge. I hope so.”
In the first quarter, Boston shot 62.5 percent (10 of 16) from 3s and 57.1 percent (16 of 28) overall.
In the second inning, Tatum’s three runs from the left side pushed the score to 74-34.
The Warriors missed 15 of 18 3-pointers in the first half, while Boston made as many 3-pointers (15 of 24) as Golden State had baskets in the first half.
Boston left the field at halftime to a standing ovation with an 82-38 lead.
In the nationally televised matchup between teams that met in the NBA Finals two years ago, the crowd subsided somewhat in the second half. Golden State won that series in six games, concluding it in Boston.
Fans gave Tatum a standing ovation when his birthday wishes were posted in the final quarter. He waved to the crowd with a big smile.
