The Warriors spent much of the first quarter on Wednesday evening finding their collective pulse and five minutes after tip-off they were already eleven minutes behind. That’s a dangerous way for any team to introduce themselves to the defending champion Celtics, especially in Boston.

Gary Payton II entered with 7:21 remaining in the quarter. Over the next seven minutes, the Celtics missed eight of nine shots, scored three goals and suddenly realized these weren’t the same Warriors they beat by 52 at TD Garden last March.

Golden State found its pulse especially with a defense that beat with enough force to engineer a 118-112 victory that certainly turned heads in the NBA.

“Once we got into the game, we were able to get into it, which made them feel a little bit uncomfortable,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters in Boston.

“It’s a statement,” said Buddy Hield, who entered the race 84 seconds after GP2. “If we don’t win this game, everyone will say, ‘Oh, they’re not playing anyone.’ So you have to come and make a statement, right?

For all the talk about depth and the increased emphasis on three-point shooting, any statement the Warriors make this season has to start with defense. It must be the source behind every leap to success, as it plays into the depth, the desired fast pace and the transition 3-balls that deflate opponents.

The Warriors have won seven of their first eight games as defense becomes routine. They swarm and catch and lurk in the passing lines. It’s enough to put the most feared offense in the league on its heels.
The Celtics, who entered the game as the NBA’s highest-scoring team, scored seven points in the final seven minutes of the opening quarter and 26 points in the final 16:38 of the first half. They shot 35.1 percent for the half.

“We’re just trying to keep bodies on bodies in the half court,” Stephen Curry said. “We know they have a very specific style. They want to hit as many 3s as possible, they want to pick certain guys and get (Jayson Tatum) in spots where he can create. They let it fly, and it’s proven successful. You have to live with some shots because you can’t guard everything. But if you have them playing in a crowd, take hard 2’s. . .

“We are a little bigger than last year,” he added. “We have more full-backs. If we can get a rebound, we’re usually in good shape.”

The final 16-plus minutes of the half were representative of a clinic, at times reminiscent of Golden State’s legendary “Death Lineups,” which tormented opponents into submission for years after being unleashed in 2014-15.

When the Celtics responded with a 72-point second half, it was a reminder that 1) they were good enough to win it all last season and 2) that Golden State is in the early stages of the kind of transformation that takes time and effort. experience.

But the shift led Kerr to hire former NBA player Jerry Stackhouse this summer as an assistant to coordinate the defense. Stackhouse, who also has experience as a head coach in the G League and at Division I Vanderbilt University, is praised by players as the man behind the intensified efforts in that area.

“I’m still giving up a few things, a few cheap things that I need to be better at,” said Hield, who offered candid self-criticism. That’s up to me. I have to stick to the game plan. Stack is for me. Everyone is on me. Draymond (Green) is focused on me. I just learn from them. I’m getting better and learning championship habits. That’s what they all preach.”

But even in the trial and error phase, the Warriors are already showing visible and statistical improvements from last season. The stats are up across the board: they are first in rebounds, first in charges drawn, second in defensive rating, second in contested shots and second in opponent field goal percentage. They are second in deflections, third in contested two-point shots, fourth in blocks, fifth in steals and ninth in loose balls recovered.

They have evolved from talk about fixing the defense (last season). Actually repairing the defense.

This is an illustrative byproduct of Kerr’s play-anyone concept. With a 13-man rotation, every player knows there is no need to pace themselves. Bring all the energy, all the time, and then sit down and let the next guy do the same.

“In theory, if we play some guys for 15 to 22 minutes, they should be able to give it their all in those minutes,” Kerr said. ‘We understand that. Tonight was probably the first game where we had three guys playing more than 30 minutes.”

That was what it took to topple the champions. To make a statement. To show the rest of the league that the defense, even in its developmental stages, is making a comeback in Golden State.

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