In a 2022 NBA Finals rematch from last season, the Golden State Warriors defeated the surging and league-leading Boston Celtics 123-107 in a dominating performance on both sides of the ball at Chase Center.
The difference in the game was what has been consistently missing in this young season for the Warriors – defense.
Golden State not only played great defense with great effort but played maturely not getting in any foul trouble.
Splash Brothers Klay Thompson got off to a hot start finishing with 24 points in the first half and finished as game-high scorer with 36 points in 34 minutes while Stephen Curry heated up in the second half and finished with 32 points in 37 minutes. Jordan Poole who started in the place of the injured small forward Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga off the bench and starter Draymond Green had 20, 14 and 11 points respectively. Kevon Looney grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds to limit Boston’s offensive rebounding opportunities which helped Golden State control the tempo of the entire game.
The Warriors dominated the post-game stats as a team an enjoyed an advantage in total rebounds (+14), offensive rebounds (+5) and assists (+9).
Stephen & Klay
balled out on #WarriorsGround ☔️ pic.twitter.com/KGXb7t00yN— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) December 11, 2022
Jaylen Brown had a low-impact 31 points but Jayson Tatum was stifled and held in check finishing with only 18 points. Malcom Brogdon had a steady game contributing 16 points off the bench. The Celtics entered the the game on a tear winning their last 8 out of 9 games, including three straight, coming off the heels of destroying the Western Conference leading Suns in Phoenix before being shut down in San Francisco.
Jayson Tatum missed two key free throws with 5:02 remaining then was called for goal-tending moments later and Curry connected next time down to make it 114-99 and put the game away.
