The (6-1) Golden State Warriors and the (7-1) Boston Celtics will face each other on Wednesday in a rematch of the 2022 NBA Finals where Golden State got the upper hand. While the Warriors have come out the gate strong, the defending champion Celtics will be their toughest out yet, and coach Steve Kerr also has to look back on when he benched star Jayson Tatum during their gold-medal campaign at the Paris Olympics.
“Do I have any regrets? We can’t control the story… We won the gold medal… I didn’t enjoy not playing Jayson… those are not fun decisions, but our guys were all amazing,” the erstwhile Team USA coach said, via ClutchPoints on X, formerly Twitter.
Warriors vs. Celtics
As a self-proclaimed Kobe Bryant disciple, Jayson Tatum knows to use slights like his Olympics benching as motivation to play better, especially against the coach who benched him, Steve Kerr. Moreover, Kerr’s team beat his in 2022 for the NBA title, which should add a little more fuel to the fire.
Still, Tatum has already reached the pinnacle of the league, having won his first championship with the Celtics in 2024 after years of knocking on the door. The Celtics finally put together a roster that could take them over the hump, by trading for Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.
These trades gave the Celtics a physical defender who can guard multiple positions and who can also score the ball without needing it in his hands too much, and a tall big who can stretch the floor and give some rim protection.
As such, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could pay more attention to offense, though they could also defend the other team’s best players when necessary.
Their five-out attack overwhelmed their opponents in the last playoffs, giving them a relatively comfortable path to the Larry O’ Brien trophy, only losing three games.
Contenders
Likewise, they’re on track to repeat this season, as no other contender in the East, except the Cleveland Cavaliers, have separated themselves from the rest as challengers to the Celtics.
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The Cavaliers are only one of the two undefeated teams in the league–the other being the Oklahoma City Thunder–and they have retained the same playoff core from last season.
However, this is also the same core that the Celtics dispatched in the second round 4-1.
Meanwhile, the Thunder are a great regular season team, but they have relatively little postseason experience. Perhaps the addition of Alex Caruso, an NBA champion with the Lakers, could help find ways to win in the postseason, but it’s still too early to say.
Can the Warriors overcome the Celtics in this early-season matchup? Or will the Celtics stay dominant and slay the dragon?