Although they were the ones that snapped the Warriors’ record-breaking home winning streak last season, this simply isn’t the best time for the Celtics to play the Dubs on the road, as they are fresh from a pair of frustrating defeats. One had them losing to the Suns on a last-second three after a crazy sequence and the other had them blowing a 13-point lead to the Clippers.
Also, the Cs were easily dispatched by the Warriors in their meeting last November, 104-88. They shot a season low 37.3 percent, with Isaiah Thomas only making four of his 12 shots for an uneventful 18 points.
Thomas will likely perform better than that dud showing on Wednesday. The All-Star guard is still continuing his scoring tear – 29.5 PPG, second in the league – despite the team stumbling into a 3-5 record in their last eight games (SU and ATS). It’s just that it doesn’t appear that it’ll be enough to hold off Golden State.
The Celtics will enter the contest ranking top 10 in points (107.9 PPG) and offensive efficiency, and top three in assists (24.9 APG) and threes (12.1).
The Warriors didn’t have a fine east coast road trip. They only went 3-2 in the stretch and it also had the memory of their leading scorer, Kevin Durant (25.3 PPG), hurting his knee and getting possibly sidelined for weeks.
Durant or no Durant, though, we should know that the Dubs are still an insanely explosive team. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson’s offense are still there, Draymond Green’s versatility is still there, and they have good, underrated pieces on the bench too.
It is also great that the trip still concluded with a pair of wins. Last night’s 119-111 victory over the Hawks was classic Warriors basketball, as they unloaded 20 threes and dished out 33 assists, with Curry hitting six treys for 24 points to go along his game-high nine assists. Andre Iguodala, who seldomly score since he’s mostly there for defense, had 24 points as well. He also filled up the stat sheet for four threes, five rebounds, four assists, three steals, and one block.
Golden State is returning home, where they are winners of 10 straight games (7-2-1 ATS). They boast the best offense in the league, and they are also ahead of everyone in points (117.5 PPG), field goal shooting (49.5 percent), assists (30.7 APG), steals, blocks, and turnovers forced.
