If Jayson Tatum, like many Celtics fans, had Olympic revenge in mind during his showdown with Steve Kerr, he left TD Garden disappointed.

The Boston star rebounded from his slowest start of the season to finish with 32 points on 10-for-19 shooting (5-for-9 from 3-point range), but he made just three field goals in the fourth quarter as the Celtics squandered a late lead and lost 118-112 to Kerr’s Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

Team USA headliner Stephen Curry delivered 27 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, four steals and a block to Golden State’s first home loss of the season for Boston. The Celtics had a seven-point lead midway through the fourth quarter but were outscored 30-17 in the final six minutes.

The loss snapped a streak of 14 consecutive Celtics wins without Jaylen Brown, who missed his third straight game with a hip flexor strain. Boston fell to 7-2 on the season and will host the Brooklyn Nets next Friday.

Tatum’s benchings in Paris were top of mind for Celtics fans, who booed Kerr — head coach of both the Warriors and the national team — with authority during pre-game warmups. But with Golden State devoting extra defensive resources to containing Tatum, one of Boston’s other Olympians carried the first score.

Derrick White (26 points) hit each of his first three 3-pointers and fouled another, taking advantage of the Warriors’ frequent double teams targeting Tatum. His sharp shooting helped the Celtics take a 14-3 lead.

But from then on, Boston struggled to solve an aggressive Golden State defense that ranked second in the NBA in defensive rating and fourth in steals and blocks per game. A six-minute scoreless drought followed, and the Celtics’ double-digit lead quickly evaporated.

Tatum, the NBA’s leading scorer in the first quarter that started Wednesday, was scoreless in the first 11 minutes before capping the first with a quick 5-0 run.

The Warriors then proceeded to double Boston in the second quarter, outscoring the Celtics 32-16 and closing the first half on a 9-0 run, capped by an off-balance, second-chance shot from Moses Moody that capped the buzzer beat. .

After averaging 37.5 first-quarter points over their first eight games, it took the Celtics nearly 22 minutes to get to that point. The Warriors led 51-40 at halftime despite getting just six points from Curry, one of the few All-Star caliber players left on their revamped roster.

However, the two-time NBA MVP was impressive as a facilitator (six first-half assists) and defender (three steals), and he opened the second half with two quick buckets as Golden State extended the lead to 14.

“They’re physical, so they force you to fight through space, and they have active hands,” Mazzulla said. “They got a lot of deflections in the first half. They could get some things there. But I thought we handled the physicality better in the second half.”

Boston finally started to make some offensive progress in the third quarter with improved three-point shooting and active work on the offensive glass. The Celtics hit 10 threes in the frame, including four from Tatum, who scored 17 points in the third. Boston ended the quarter with three points from Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser (wedged around one by Jonathan Kuminga) to trail by just one, 82-81, entering the fourth.

The Celtics also held a 9-2 offensive rebound advantage during their 41-point third-quarter outburst, with four of their triples coming on offensive boards.

Another three from White two minutes into the fourth quarter put Boston ahead for the first time since the 8:00 mark of the second. Center Neemias Queta followed with a pair of rim-rocking dunks — including a thunderous putback on a missed Hauser three — then knocked away a Curry layup. The Portuguese seven-footer received a rousing ovation when he walked to the bench.

Queta made his mark for Boston, recording 14 points, eight rebounds (five offensive) and two blocks in his second career start.

“Neemie did a great job of getting us offensive rebounds and getting us extra possessions to get out in transition,” Mazzulla said.

But the Celtics couldn’t hold on to that lead. Curry scored 10 points in a span of three minutes, Kevon Looney converted a pair of putbacks on Warriors misses and Buddy Hield hit a third corner kick to put Golden State up seven with 46.3 seconds left.

Al Horford responded with a three to cut the score to 111-107, but a series of late free throws allowed Golden State to pull away.

Originally published: November 6, 2024 at 10:16 PM EST