Celtics Lose 99-97 In Thriller Against The Warriors

Jan 10, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Boston Celtics power forward Kris Humphries (43) blocks the shot by Golden State Warriors power forward David Lee (10) during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The moral of this game is that sometimes losses can at least be entertaining, well that is until you actually lose the game. On a pure entertainment level this was probably the best Celtics game all season. They’ve definitely played better basketball but man, oh, man was this one fun to watch.

Teams always talk about moral wins, and while I really don’t subscribe to that notion that you can have a “moral win”, there are some positives you can take from some losses such as this one. They’ve started off this west coast road with some really tough losses and some very demoralizing losses. Losing 10 out of your last 11 games and your last 6 games probably will suck some of the energy out of a team but this team seemed energized from the outset and they really competed for the 2nd game in the row after two straight blowouts.

Defensively Boston really was able to contain Stephen Curry — except on the last play when Steph obliterated Humphries — and Klay Thompson holding them 12 for 35 for just 36 points. A very inefficient and strange night for the league’s best shooting backcourt.

A few observations

• Jeff Green showed up for one of his bi-weekly ‘Hey Remember How I Can Score Pretty Much At Will Sometimes’ games. It’s the kind of game that has everyone in the league wondering why he doesn’t do this more consistently. He had a great game though which included two astounding baseline reverse finishes, one was a crazy layup, while the other was a thunderous dunk. He finished with 24 points on 11-17 shooting, and 11 rebounds.
• Jared Sullinger finally gout out of his slump. He’s been dealing a lot with a bone bruise in his left hand which has made it somewhat of a struggle to catch the ball and shoot  but Stevens changed it up tonight and brought him off the bench. It remains to be seen whether or not that was the cause for Sully’s improved play tonight but whatever happened, I’m certainly glad we got more of what we have been seeing for most of the season from Sullinger. He finished with 21 points on 9-16 shooting, and pulled down 11 rebounds.
• What a game from Kris Humphries! I gotta admit that I was completely wrong about this guy. My previous impressions were that he just an empty double-double guy who didn’t bring much else to the table but this season he’s really proved his worth on the defensive side of the court. An argument can really be made for him being the Celtics best and most consistent play this season — that’s probably not very good for a basketball team though. Humphries finished with 16 points on 5-10 shooting, grabbed 14 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

Another tough loss for the Green who now stand at 13-24 on the season. The Celtics finish up this tough west coast trip on Sunday in Portland taking on one of the West’s best teams in the Trailblazers.

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