4 Celtics takeaways from Wednesday's narrow loss to the Warriors

On Wednesday night, Jayson Tatum and his Boston Celtics nearly pulled off a miraculous second-half comeback against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. But bloody Stephen Curry, returning from an ankle injury, helped Golden State hang on long enough to eventually secure a 118-112 victory.

Things actually looked good for the Celtics at the beginning. After a strong 14-3 start in Boston, the Warriors responded with a brutal 30-15 win, capped by back-to-back Kyle Anderson treys while keeping the Celtics out of rhythm with stellar defense. The Warriors had a 32-16 lead in the second quarter and a 51-40 lead at halftime. A 41-31 third frame by the Celtics brought Boston within one point, but a flurry of late-period plays around the basket (from free throws to putbacks) helped Golden State thwart the W in the fourth frame.

Curry scored 27 points on 8 of 17 shooting from the field (4 of 9 from deep) and 7 of 7 shooting from the foul line, dished out nine assists, grabbed seven rebounds, swiped four steals and blocked a shot.

With the win, the Warriors improved to an outstanding 7-1 record on the year, while dropping the Celtics to 7-2 on the season.

Boston was without All-Star small forward Jaylen Brown and former All-Star center Kristaps Porzingis, while Golden State was without bench guards Brandin Podziemski and De'Anthony Melton.

Here are our takeaways:

Golden State has tried to strike a balance between shooting and defense in the absence of former splash brother Klay Thompson, now with the Dallas Mavericks. Steve Kerr has tinkered with his starting lineup a bit this season, shifting impending free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga to a backup role in the squad.

His current starting players include Curry, shooting guard Moses Moody (who, unlike Kuminga, agreed to a rookie-scale contract extension this summer), small forward Andrew Wiggins, power forward Draymond Green and second-year center Trayce Jackson-Davis is an intriguing one Mixture of shot and size. That means this summer's expensive free agents – Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson and De'Anthony Melton (although Melton was injured in that game) – have been brought off the bench. Hield has brought a particularly productive goalscoring dimension to the club's offense. 2024 All-Rookie Team guard Brandin Podziemski was also rotated between the bench and Kerr's starting units. Big man Kevon Looney and guard Gary Payton II also joined the bench.

Suddenly the team is strong, but not as full of All-Stars as it was during Curry's MVP prime. It's all about curry, but these new pieces fit in well with the established additions.

This is a very different-looking team than the 2022 club that defeated Boston in a hard-fought, six-game NBA Finals clash. The Celtics' 2024-25 class, now loaded with Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and post-championship glory, is better, tougher, deeper and more confident than its 2023-24 incarnation. A respectable road loss tonight without Porzingis or Brown is hardly an indicator of how the two teams would fare in a series. Boston clearly has what it takes to repeat. It will be interesting to see if the Warriors get in their way.

Joe Mazzulla's Celtics outscored the Warriors on Wednesday night with a whopping 54 triples (they made 19) to Golden State's meager 34 (they made 14, a better 41.2 percent). This hyper-modern approach was ultimately undone by the Warriors' massive lead in team points scored, 52-36.

Even with Al Horford back in his starting lineup, Joe Mazzulla opted to keep Queta in his front five. He moved Tatum down a position to accommodate the young big man jumping to the fifth spot and Horford starting at power forward. Queta rewarded Mazzula's decision by outdoing Horford. He scored 14 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the field and 2 of 4 from the foul line, grabbed eight rebounds, blocked two shots and recorded a +13 in his 28:09 of playing time, the only positive. Minus among Boston's starters.

All-NBA Celtics forward Jayson Tatum led all scorers with 32 points on 10 of 20 shooting from the floor (5 of 10 from distance) and 7 of 9 shooting from charity stripe. All-Defensive Team guard Derrick White scored 26 points on 8 of 19 shooting from the field (7 of 16 from deep) and 3 of 3 shooting from the foul line, plus six rebounds. Point guard Payton Pritchard, continuing his strong play of late, had 15 points, while the aforementioned Horford and Queta each scored in double figures.

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