For his final blow, Stephen Curry used a Draymond Green screen to get Al Horford on him. All the way outside, at the half-court line, Curry leaned over and dribbled, the Boston Celtics right on his hip, waiting for space to open up.

Horford has been to this island before.

Curry took off suddenly and easily blew past Horford as the clock dropped below 50 seconds. Boston worked hard to get his three-pointer away. But Curry’s drives did damage. Derrick White, the great Celtics guard, left his man to cut off Curry in the paint. The entire time, Jayson Tatum was on the left wing watching Curry. Rightly so. The Golden State Warriors led by four and needed a basket to seal the victory. Now is the time to focus on Curry.

Tatum had seen this movie before.

What Tatum didn’t see was the man he was defending drifting along the sideline. Curry’s ninth assist was easy. Buddy Hield was wide open on the right wing. Ball game.

BUDDY LOVED
CLUTCH!!!!

📺 @NBCSAuthentic pic.twitter.com/CvQGhKrie0

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 7, 2024

This certainly felt like a familiar fear for Boston fans. Curry terrorizes their team. Some of the lead has been eroded since the Celtics captured the flag he denied them in 2022. Still, Curry taunted the Celtics in a special way the last time the Warriors won 118-112 at TD Garden on Wednesday.

Those who disparage the culinary skills of a man’s wife earn themselves a nemesis.

In that sense, Boston was the perfect enemy in the Warriors’ first “real” game against a truly elite opponent. Their 6-1 start, while surprising, lacked the gravitas of a big win.

But on Wednesday night, Curry delivered one to his cohorts. His 27 points were typical. More important was his finish of a game that cemented the Warriors’ start to the season.

It was a suffocating defensive performance from the Warriors, which nipped one of the league’s most potent offenses in the bud. It was an up-tempo offense as the Warriors pulled back from the three-point line to apply transition pressure. The Celtics, like them, have racked up a ton of 3s. They made 19 of 54.

But in the end, when it came time to win, the Warriors had the best player on the floor. And if they can get him to do that, he can still perform at 36.

The Celtics helped the Warriors prove their theory in what amounts to their biggest test yet this season. Their defensive aggression, their ball movement, their movement and especially their depth make them viable.

The Warriors come in waves. They have two units they can throw at teams. They have variations they can conjure – from big and defensive to athletic and tall to fast shooting. Their playing style requires dedication. One: be at peace with whatever the role is, at least for now. Two: to stand up and leave nothing. Their hunger is palpable.

“That’s how we have to play it,” Curry said. “And we talked about it. Coach (Steve Kerr) talked about it until he was blue in the face. Like every practice, every film session, every pre-game conversation, it’s the same message. So it’s who we are now. It is who we are meant to be.”

Stephen Curry had 27 points and 9 assists on Wednesday night, the biggest of which came to Buddy Hield in the final minute for the game-sealing 3. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

The Warriors did it with their new foundation – perimeter ball pressure – and a bound response to their individual aggressiveness. Not only are they beyond the three-point line and applying pressure, they’re spinning with a familiar desperation. The help defender in their scheme descends with the thirst of a vulture, taking advantage of the league’s longer grip on physicality.

They can play this way because they have the bodies. They can play this way because they have adopted the mentality. They can play this way because they have a prominent quarterback on both sides of the field.

In defense, Green orchestrates a pack of wolves. One of the best signs of a defensive mentality comes in closeouts. The Warriors rarely run out of 3s. Even if they’re late to the rotation, even if an assignment goes wrong, Green or Andrew Wiggins or Gary Payton II or Kyle Anderson still sprints to the game.

The defensive identity is visibly beginning to form.

“Just our activity,” Kevon Looney said. “We flew around. We were really physical. They missed some shots. They missed about 3 seconds. But we made them feel uncomfortable. I feel like we were able to get them off their spot and they couldn’t get a rhythm.”

It is also clearly visible in Curry. Because of the depth, he can be fresh enough to play both sides with focus and ruthlessness. Because he doesn’t have to force the play and can let the offense take the rock where it can, he can pick his spots instead of feeling the need to save them.

So when the end of the game came, he could do to Boston what he does to Boston.

The Warriors trailed 95-88 with just over six minutes remaining. A Curry steal led to a Wiggins layup on the other end. The next time, Curry fought over a screen to stay attached to White, leaving Wiggins on Tatum. Curry didn’t just accept the move the Celtics wanted.

Tatum missed a 3 and Curry was fouled on a 3-pointer. The next time he was down, Curry hit an open 3 from the left wing after Boston blew a defensive assignment. Soon after, Curry’s rebound and quick outlet led to a Hield layup.

It was clear what happened. A repetition of a scene, even though the parts are different. When Curry put on that final dagger, he threw the ball away and looked like he knew it was going in. It wasn’t Klay Thompson. It was Hield who put out the lights.

White’s response was as if it were Thompson. After cutting off Curry in the lane, he saw what developed and covered for Tatum. He ran at Hield with everything he had, jumping into the air, hoping to distract the sniper. But white was too late. The splash of the net was almost inevitable.

White had felt that inevitability before.

GO DEEPER

Warriors make a statement in Boston with focus and discipline

(Top photo of Buddy Hield and Stephen Curry during Wednesday’s game: David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)