The Celtics took full advantage that the Golden State Warriors were without All-Star Stephen Curry, as they picked up a 110-88 blowout victory at the Chase Center Wednesday night.
Curry suffered a foot injury late in the first half as both he and Marcus Smart dove for a loose ball. Warriors coach Steve Kerr wasn't pleased with how the C's guard lunged to the floor and let him know about it as the two exchanged words after the play and following the game.
"I thought it was a dangerous play. I thought Marcus dove into Steph's knee," Kerr said during his postgame presser. "That's what I was upset about. Lot of respect for Marcus, he's a hell of a player, gamer, competitor. I coached him in the World Cup a few summers ago. We talked after the game, we're good. I thought it was a dangerous play, I just let him know."
Smart landed on Curry's leg at the 4:19 mark in the second quarter and the Warriors guard grimaced in pain immediately and hobbled off the floor on the next dead ball, which happened to be a Flagrant 1 foul call on Smart 10 seconds later when he jumped and caught his leg on Klay Thompson's shooting arm on a pump fake.
Jayson Tatum had 26 points, 12 rebounds, while Jaylen Brown scored 14 of his 26 points in the first two quarters, to go along with seven rebounds. Smart added 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-7 from deep and handed out eight assists to help the Celtics win six out of their last seven and improve to 42-28 on the season.
"Me and Steve [Kerr] have that relationship with USA Basketball, so he knows I'm never trying to hurt anybody," said Smart in his postgame comments. "He knows since I got in this league I've been sacrificing my body for the better of my team and my teammates, so I get it -- I understand. I hate to see it happen to anybody, especially playing and doing your job. Hate to see any injury. I hope Steph's alright. We looked at it, I didn't even see him, just saw the ball and dove on the ball and tried to make a play. Unfortunately, that occurred and I'm really down right now about it."
Jordan Poole led all scorers with 29 points on 10-of-20 from the field and 6-of-13 from 3-point territory. Klay Thompson was the only other Warriors' player to score in double-figures with 18, but was 1-of-11 from beyond the arc, as Golden State fell to 47-23 on the year. They were also without All-Star Andrew Wiggins and Nemanja Bjelica, who were both out with a non-COVID illness.
The Celtics were ahead 48-32 at the break, before it was announced that Curry would not return for the rest of the game. The Warriors outscored Boston 37-31 in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 10 (79-69) heading into the final frame.
After a 16-7 run to open up the fourth quarter by the Celtics, Golden State began to waive the white flag as they trailed 98-80 with 4:02 left to play -- giving them their fourth straight loss at home to Boston and sixth of the last seven matchups in the Bay Area.
Golden State shot 7-of-21 in the first quarter and were held to 29.3% shooting in the first half and 37.2% overall (11-of-48 from 3), as they were also limited to 19 assists while turning over the ball eight times to split the season series with Boston 1-1.
"Jordan Poole got hot," said C's coach Ime Udoka of the Warrior's late third quarter run. "Our bigs were back a little bit and he took advantage. For us to bounce back and hold them to 19 [points] in the fourth quarter was huge."
The Celtics will continue their four-game west road trip Friday night when they visit the Sacramento Kings (25-46).
Game Notes:
Boston shot 46.9% from the field and 15-of-40 (37.5%) from 3 to go along with 23 assists on 38 made baskets. The Celtics also outrebounded Golden State 53-38 and outscored the Warriors in the paint 40-30.
Joel Pavón
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