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    • Steph Curry delivers thrilling win against Celtics – NBC Sports Bay Area and California
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    Steph Curry delivers thrilling win against Celtics – NBC Sports Bay Area and California

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    In their first meeting with the NBA’s certified elite this season, the Warriors came away with a sense of just how close they are to joining that exclusive club.

    Not just good enough to hang with the defending champion Boston Celtics, but resilient enough to finish them off.

    Although the Warriors led by 14 early in the second half, the Warriors held off Boston’s attack for the final 23 minutes and finished with a very satisfying 118-112 victory at TD Garden on Wednesday night.

    Five Warriors scored in double figures, with Stephen Curry leading the way with 27 points. Andrew Wiggins and Buddy Hield each scored 16, Kyle Anderson had 11 and Jonathan Kuminga 10 as the Warriors moved to 7-1 and 5-0 on the road this season.

    After falling behind early, the Warriors went ahead in the second quarter and stayed on top behind ferocious defense and strong bench play until the Celtics stormed back in the fourth, briefly taking a lead before Golden State recovered to eliminate them.

    Here are three takeaways from a game against one of the league’s best teams, in one of the league’s toughest buildings.

    Steph looks juuuuuust good

    After a quiet first half, with six points in 17 minutes, Curry found his feet in the second half and delivered a performance that kept the Warriors from falling apart completely.

    Curry scored 21 points after the break on 6 of 14 shooting from the field, including 3 of 9 from beyond the arc. He had a response for almost every Boston run, with 11 points in the third quarter and another 10 in the fourth.

    Curry’s 27 points came on 8-of-17 shooting from the field, including 4-of-9 from deep and 7-of-7 from the line. For good measure, he added nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals.

    Although Curry only returned to action two days ago after missing a week with a sprained left ankle, he felt well enough to play a season-high 34 minutes and finished plus-7.

    Curry also climbed to 30th on the career scoring list, passing frequent Golden State critic Charles Barkley.

    Sofa brings early life

    Any hope of a fast start to quiet the crowd quickly faded as the Warriors were sleepy from the point, missing ten of their first eleven shots and falling behind by eleven (14-3) within five minutes.

    The celebration didn’t start until Warriors coach Steve Kerr went to his bench and summoned Gary Payton II and Buddy Hield. They woke the team up and put together a 16-5 run, with Payton and Hield accounting for 12 of the 16 points. The bench scored 14 of the 19 points in the first quarter.

    The momentum continued into the second quarter, which the Warriors opened with a 14-5 run, taking a 33-29 lead and prompting the Celtics to call a full timeout.

    Mostly behind Hield, Anderson, Kuminga and Payton, Golden State’s bench – the most productive in the NBA – delivered 28 of the team’s 51 points in the first half and 49 for the game.

    JT’s (almost) revenge

    Kerr was subjected to loud and prolonged boos during pregame introductions, not because the Warriors won the 2022 NBA Finals on that floor, but because of his sin in the role of head coach of Team USA basketball.

    With Kerr benching Celtics star Jayson Tatum for two of six games at the Paris Olympics, there were some raw feelings in Boston. It didn’t matter that Tatum earned a gold medal as Team USA came through the games undefeated. The bottom line for Boston is that their guy didn’t get as much success as they thought he deserved.

    Although Tatum largely publicly downplayed the issue, it is reasonable to assume that he felt neglected.

    If he was looking for revenge, he got it in the third quarter. After an eight-point first half on 2-of-7 shooting from the field, including 1-of-2 from deep, he poured in 17 in the third. He was 5-of-7 from the field and 4-of-6 from distance.

    He was primarily responsible for the Warriors being unable to extend their 11-point halftime lead, as the Celtics’ 41-point third quarter – after just 40 in the first half – pulled them within one point in the fourth brought.

    With a game-high 30 points, Tatum did his part to bring his team back. It wasn’t enough.

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