By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Boston Celtics’ well-oiled offensive artillery was in full display after handing the Golden State Warriors its worst loss of the current NBA regular season, 140-88, on March 4, 2024.
Boston’s 52-point win was Golden State’s fourth-worst loss in their franchise history and is their third-biggest win of all time.
From the get-go, the Celtics quickly blew the game wide-open after opening up a 44-22 advantage in the first quarter of their NBA Finals rematch several years ago.
The Celtics’ high-octane balanced attack matched with their intense perimeter defense hurt Golden State’s rhythm and held them to a disappointing 17% shooting from the three-point line.
Out of 41 attempts, the Warriors only cashed in seven shots and turned the ball over 17 times which led to 15 points off turnovers for the Celtics.
In just the first half, Boston already boosted its morale heading into the last two quarters after entering the locker room with a 44-point lead, 82-48.
It was still all Boston at the start of the third quarter as they continued its waxing hot shooting and were all over the place hitting shots from downtown and the perimeter area.
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr then waived the white flag early in the final frame as they faced a difficult task of clawing back from a 53-point deficit.
Top-scoring for the Celtics was Jaylen Brown, who dropped a game-high 29-point performance built from an efficient 11/19 shooting from the field alongside three rebounds and three assists.
What made Brown’s night special was he only needed 22 minutes to pull off such a crazy stat line and didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
Jayson Tatum added 27 markers, five assists, three rebounds, a steal, and a block, while backup point guard Payton Pritchard added 19 points derived from three made treys.
With the huge victory, the Celtics just extended its winning streak to 11 straight games and will seek to sustain its run on March 6, 2024, as they take on Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
