3 Individual Positives from the Golden State Warriors loss to the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics may have got some revenge in a 121-118 overtime win against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, but there were still plenty of positives for the reigning NBA champions.

This was a game that went back and forth the entire way — perhaps a lack of fourth-quarter or overtime buzzer-beating game winner was all that prevented it from being the game of the season to date.

The Golden State Warriors fell just short of the Boston Celtics on the road as Steve Kerr made an adjustment going with a small-ball lineup.

There were plenty of positive aspects that should provide optimsm for Warrior fans. After all, they did go against the best team in basketball right now, with the Celtics sitting atop the Eastern Conference right now and already heavy favourites to advance to the Finals come playoff time.

Steve Kerr utilized just eight players in a limited rotation, including starting Jordan Poole in place of starting center Kevon Looney. Some produced quality performances to lift Golden State to what should have been a big time win at TD Garden.

Individual Positives in loss to Celtics

Andrew Wiggins’ defense

There were moments on Thursday night that the 2022 All-Star looked like he did last season on the defensive side of the ball. He didn’t shut down Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown by any means, but there were times down the stretch where he made things incredibly difficult for whoever he was guarding.

His defense was great throughout the game, and that’s what the Warriors will need moving forward now that he’s six games back from injury. He is their best wing defender as it currently stands, especially with Jonathan Kuminga sidelined and Klay Thompson not back to his best on that end. When Wiggins is on defensively, he can guard anyone in the league.

Draymond Green

Draymond Green has had some moments over the last few games where he’s actually proven a factor on the offensive side of the ball. He backed up his 11 fourth-quarter points against the Washington Wizards with another 11  points against the Celtics, nearly tallying a triple double with 13 rebounds and nine assists. People tend to forget that Green was a pretty decent shooter back in his earlier years, and could finish inside at an average rate as well.

While he hasn’t been putting up huge numbers in the scoring column, Green is making himself a threat to some degree. You can probably guess how — the signature fake dribble handoff for a dunk or layup. He also went 1-for-2 from three and despite a big workload, Green has produced mightily in recent times.

Stephen Curry

This one was pretty obvious, but it would feel wrong not to put him in the conversation of those who played well — here’s why. Stephen Curry has struggled finding his groove of late as he still tries to recover from his shoulder injury. He actually struggled in this game, especially in the beginning. However, when it was coming down to the wire, the two-time MVP begun showing up.

Curry had his second highest scoring game since before the injury, a positive sign after his 41-point outburst against the Wizards and the fact it’s been difficult to string together good performances since return.

His 29 points were inefficient (9-for-25, 6-for-18 3P) and he missed an opportunity to split the teams at the end of regulation, but Curry is building back towards his season best form that’s seen him average 29 points, six rebounds and six assists per game on 50% shooting from the field.