BOSTON — Absent the pressure of an all-time record chase, the Warriors faced another obstacle Friday night at TD Garden, one a little more relatable to the rest of us: navigating a game disrupted by the ongoing surge of COVID-19.
With Jordan Poole sidelined in health and safety protocols, the Warriors were forced to find a way to win, 111-107, without one of three most reliable scoring threats and will have to for an unknown amount of time into the future as they await him to be cleared.
Coach Steve Kerr gave rookie Moses Moody the starting nod, but six bench players saw as many or more minutes. None of them individually could replace the playmaking ability that Poole has showcased in a breakout third season but the sum of their parts was good enough to evade a furious comeback by an even more shorthanded Celtics squad.
Steph Curry led all scorers with 30 points, followed closely by Andrew Wiggins’ 27, but Andre Iguodala (12 points) was the only other player to finish in double figures.
During a frenetic first half, it didn’t appear to matter. With 68 points, Golden State came within a point of its season-high in scoring for a first half and pulled ahead by 20, but the offense went quiet after intermission, allowing Boston to force a dramatic final quarter.
The Warriors were missing Poole, but the Celtics found a way to keep the game within single digits for most of the second half despite four of their players landing in the NBA’s COVID protocols before tipoff. Before the game, Kerr didn’t have an idea of the starting five he’d be facing. At least during the regular season, Kerr said, there is less preparing for their opponent than working on their own game plan.
But Poole’s absence proved to throw a serious wrench in the operation that had Golden State out to the best start in the NBA.
The Warriors deviated from their typical rotation pattern with Curry and let him run the entire first quarter. It paid off, at least for the time, as Curry, who finished with a game-high 30 points, exploded for 16 in the opening quarter as the Warriors built an early lead as large as 20-8.
Andrew Wiggins, who finished second to Curry with 27 for the night, took over scoring duties in the second quarter, and the Warriors widened their lead to 59-39 with 4:40 to go before halftime. But then the Celtics started mounting their run.
Curry sank four free throws after he was fouled on a last-second heave from halfcourt to end the first half, putting an end to a 15-5 Celtics run that halved the gap from 20 points to 10 seconds before halftime.
Poole’s absence was most glaring early in the third quarter as the Warriors went scoreless for the first 3 minutes, 45 seconds of the second half. After Wiggins drained a 3 with 2:12 left in the second quarter, the Warriors didn’t score another basket until Kevon Looney put back a miss from Draymond Green with 8:15 on the clock in the third.
The Celtics climbed all the way back to take an 84-82 lead on the first shot of the fourth quarter, a Jayson Tatum step-back 3 that sent the crowd into a frenzy. It was the first time Boston led since its first basket of the game, a Jaylen Brown long ball to make it 3-2, a lead that lasted 24 seconds and wasn’t regained for another 35 and a half minutes of game time.
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