Sunday afternoon the Boston Celtics routed the visiting Golden State Warriors in a historic 140-88 victory. Boston’s offense was locked and loaded from the jump, putting the Warriors in a big deficit early on. This, in part, was aided by a very specific defensive approach from Golden State.
In the first quarter the Warriors sagged off of Jaylen Brown, giving the All-NBA forward plenty of space to operate on offense. Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said afterward his team wanted to try to close off driving lanes and lock down the paint. This strategy left little defensive pressure on Jaylen Brown, who took 12 field goals in the opening frame, and finished the first with 19 points on 5-for-9 shooting from deep. Following the game, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was asked if he noticed the unique defensive scheme.
“Yeah,” Mazzulla said plainly. “We were really grateful for that.”
Celtics dismantle Warriors 140-88 in historic rout https://t.co/TSPVIR0qpc pic.twitter.com/WIVG3cLZnw
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 3, 2024
“Teams are going to guard you in different ways,” Mazzulla continued. “We just have to stay open minded to what gives us the best chance to win. There’s a game plan ,but then when the game starts, the game will tell us what we need to do.”
“So, I just kept saying ‘thank you’,” Mazzulla continued. “And I kept empowering Jaylen. And credit to his teammates for empowering him to just continue to play.”
Brown was an All-Star this season, and one of the NBA’s most efficient offensive weapons. Whether or not this was more of a psychological ploy by the Warriors is unclear. But it was a profoundly ineffective approach.
Boston went on to outscore Golden State 82-38 in the first half in especially lopsided game. Brown ended the night with a game-high 29 points in just 22 minutes of action.
Celtics Lab 243: 10 lingering regular season questions for Boston's stretch run with Jake Issenberg https://t.co/RIQy380uRE pic.twitter.com/jC23154lOG
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) February 27, 2024
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