By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
It was one of those games where the Boston Celtics couldn’t just miss from the three-point territory.
On January 21, 2025, reigning and defending NBA champions Boston Celtics handed the Golden State Warriors a massive beat down, 125-85, during their inter-conference matchup in the ongoing regular season.
The powerhouse Eastern Conference squad drained a total of 20 three-pointers and dominated the paint, scoring 52-26, en route to a one-sided affair that took place on the home floor of the Warriors.
As early as the opening quarter, Boston already asserted its dominance and ended the first 12 minutes with an 11-point lead, 29-18, before ballooning its advantage to 15 points heading into the second half.
Despite the defensive adjustments that head coach Steve Kerr deployed on the Warriors in hopes of slowing down Boston’s outside shooting, the current NBA kings staged its most dominant quarter of the game in the third and pulled away for good with a 43-24 run.
After that sequence, Kerr saw enough and waved the white flag early in the fourth. He was also seen voicing his frustrations when Golden State couldn’t put up a string of defensive stops during the momentum-shifting third period.
A lethal balanced attack from the starter and the bench mob doomed the Warriors led by Jayson Tatum who dropped 22 points in just 28 minutes of action.
Boston’s superstar small forward was a force in the first half and turned into a workhorse in the final two quarters when he anchored the Celtics’ defense while feeding his wide-open teammates in the wings.
Aside from his 22-point contribution, Tatum also tallied a near triple-double after logging in nine rebounds, seven assists, and two steals.
Backstopping Tatum in Boston’s demolition exhibition were Kristaps Porzingis and Jaylen Brown who delivered 18 and 17 markers, respectively.
Leading the bench attack for the Celtics were Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser who each scored 14 and 11 points, respectively, combining for a total of five three-pointers made.
On the other hand, it was only Stephen Curry for Golden State who scored above the 15-point plateau, finishing with 18 markers, four dimes, three rebounds, and two steals.
