The Celtics didn’t step up when they needed to, turning an 11-point fourth-quarter lead over the Warriors into a win streak-snapping overtime loss in Golden State on Tuesday night.
Boston leaned into its untimely lackadaisical side, unable to flip the switch and take ownership of the fourth quarter. That allowed the much more determined Warriors to climb back, send the contest into overtime and close out the Celtics with little to no issue — mostly courtesy of Stephen Curry who finished the night with a game-leading 33 points, including one epic buzzer-beating 3-pointer to extend Golden State’s lead to four points with 10.6 seconds left to play.
“We missed 20 layups in that game and 41 threes, and they went on their run in the non-Curry minutes,” Mazzulla told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “But they did a good job of getting offensive rebounds, playing in transition and when you play against a team like that, as much as you focus on their stars, the margins are important.”
Taking the floor without Kristaps Porzingis, the Celtics weren’t at full strength from the get-go. Yet, with solid minutes provided by Al Horford (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Neemias Queta (10 points, 10 rebounds), Boston had a chance to take advantage of Golden State’s small-ball playstyle. But instead, the Celtics elected to get ultra 3-point hungry, going 17-for-58, adding a self-inflicted hit to their shot quality.
Taking notice of that, Curry — per usual — attacked.
“Once it gets to a couple possession game, there’s no right answer and they just made a few more plays than we did tonight, I thought,” Mazzulla added.
Boston’s impressive five-game winning streak came to an end, dropping the Celtics to an even 6-6 in road games this season.
