The Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors will be well rested, but not yet full, when they face off in San Francisco on Saturday night in a rematch of the June NBA Finals.
The Warriors won the championship in six games, rallying from a 2-1 deficit with three straight wins, including two in Boston.
Warriors swingman Andrew Wiggins, who played a vital role in last year’s playoffs, won’t fit and Celtics center Robert Williams is not officially ruled out but doubtful for the first of two regular-season encounters. this season. The clubs will face off again on January 19 in Boston.
Boston’s Al Horford (health and safety protocol) and Golden State’s Andre Iguodala (tense left hip) will also be absent from the meeting.
Without Williams, who is recovering from knee surgery after an injury that kept him out of action often last season, the Celtics have opted for a smaller look this season with impressive results. Jayson Tatum (30.5 ppg) and Jaylen Brown (26.7) have become one of the strongest forward tandems in the league.
Each had 25 points when the Celtics crushed the Phoenix Suns 125-98 Wednesday night in their third straight road game. Boston had the last two days off.
Golden State also hasn’t played since Wednesday, when it saw a late lead slip away in a 124-123 road loss to the Utah Jazz. The Warriors played without Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, who were both suffering from minor injuries, as well as Wiggins, who will be out for a third straight Saturday with a tightness in his right adductor.
Wiggins caught the eye of the Finals MVP when he led Golden State’s comeback with double-doubles in Games 4 and 5, averaging 21.5 points and 14.5 rebounds in those wins. .
Curry was voted the winner of the Bill Russell Award as Series MVP after leading the Finals with 31.2 points per game.
Curry has scored at a similar rate this season (30.0), but the Warriors have yet to recapture the magic that won them 16 of 22 postseason games a year ago.
The Warriors have lost two in a row to fall to 13-13 but don’t seem fazed by the showdown with the Celtics. In fact, Curry was preoccupied while preparing for the pitching contest accepting the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year award and applauding the return of women’s basketball star Brittney Griner.
“Brittney’s house is amazing,” Curry said of the US-Russian prisoner swap. “Kudos to President Biden and his administration…to all the athletes, activists, people who have used their platform to speak out on his behalf.”
The Celtics, meanwhile, went all out to set the league’s best record at 21-5 and open a six-game road trip with wins in Brooklyn, Toronto and Phoenix. They will travel through Los Angeles to face the Clippers on Monday and the Lakers on Tuesday before returning home.
Brown, a former University of California standout, insisted last June’s disappointment against the Warriors was not forgotten.
“Losing at the highest point in the NBA Finals, there’s nothing more humiliating than that,” Brown said. “Nothing can instill humility like losing in the greatest moment of your career. When transferring this season, we’ve all been humbled and I think that’s part of our makeup. We’ve been playing from heartache.”
–Field-Level Media
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