Sully and Turner play great, but Celtics lose to the Warriors in Oakland, 114-111


After snapping a 24 game losing streak on the road vs. Western Conference foes, the Celtics tried to make it three straight wins against the west by upsetting the Warriors in Oakland. Only problem: the Warriors are ridiculously good, and despite the best efforts of Jared Sullinger (26 points and 9 boards) and Evan Turner (19-7-7), and an overall solid effort, the Celts just didn't have enough gas in the tank, falling 114-111. Golden State was led by (who else) Klay Thompson (31 points) and Steph Curry (22 points, 11 assists), but also showed off their depth as seven different players had at least eight points.

Give the Celtics this: without Marcus Smart and Kelly Olynyk, their awkwardly put together roster went on the road against a team set to make a run at 70 wins and played them extremely tough. The Celtics were within one possession for the majority of the first half, trailing by only two as the half wound down before the Warriors hit five free throws in the last seven seconds of the second quarter. Three of those came courtesy of a TERRIBLE call against James Young on Curry as Curry launched a buzzer-beating shot from half-court. That call turned a potential four point game into a 56-49 lead for the Dubs at the break (Worth noting: the Warriors shot 17 free throws in the 1st half compared to just six for the Celtics).

The second half once again showed a game Celtics team playing hard in an attempt to make it three wins in a row out West, but there was just no making up for the gigantic talent discrepancy between them and Golden State. The Warriors didn't play their A-game, but great teams don't need to to beat inferior teams, something we all should know after watching the Pierce-KG era Celtics take care of business many a night without their best effort. The Celtics did end up cutting the lead to three really late (4 seconds to go), but there wasn't enough time left on the clock for the Sully/Turner led comeback to be completed.

The Celtics played 11 of their 12 active players in this one (poor Shavlik), and all 11 got in on the scoring. However, being balanced wasn't quite enough against an even deeper team with much better premium talent.

The loss dropped the Celtics to 15-27 overall, and 2-2 on their West coast trip. They have two games left out (mid) west: Monday night in Utah, and Wednesday in Minnesota.


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