BOSTON — To an extent, the Warriors can look over at the team they will face at TD Garden Thursday night and see something by which they are not very often confronted: themselves.
The Celtics are not on Golden State’s level yet, not by a longshot. But this is a league that has become Warriors-centric in the last five years, with owners pushing their front offices to somehow replicate the things that the Warriors do. That’s led to disaster in some locales when the realization hits that Golden State’s style of play requires players like the ones on the Warriors’ roster to execute.
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When it comes to style — heavy ball movement, a multitude of scorers, long-limbed disruptors of passing lanes, versatile defense capable of switching assignments seamlessly, 3-point shooting, innovative and creative coaching (Steve Kerr for the Warriors, Brad Stevens for the Celtics) — Boston is the NBA team that most resembles what the Warriors do.
Golden State leads the league in net rating (plus-14.4), the difference between their offensive efficiency and their defensive efficiency per 100 possessions. Second is Boston (plus-7.8).
“Everybody is touching the ball, everybody’s moving, everybody’s feeling good about themselves,” Kevin Durant said. “This is a feel-good game and as a player you want your coaches to trust you and put you in positions where you can be most successful. Brad Stevens has done a great job of putting every player on his team in position to do what they do best, and that’s what coach Kerr does for us.”
The scoring engine has been new point guard Kyrie Irving, who has not shot very well, making only 32.6 percent of his 3s and failing to shoot 40 percent from the field in five of the 13 full games he’s played. But the guts of the team are the three lanky, athletic big men/wings who give the Celtics most of their Warrior-ness: Jayson Tatum (6-8 with a 7-0 wingspan), Jaylen Brown (6-7 with a 7-0 wingspan) and Al Horford (6-10 with a 7-1 wingspan).
They don’t have the talent level of Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Durant, of course, but the Celtics are missing a potential All-Star wing, Gordon Hayward, who broke his ankle five minutes into his Boston career. His presence would close the talent gap in this group. Tatum is only 19, and Brown is 21, so that talent is only going to blossom further.
In other words, the Warriors will be looking across at the Warriors of the future Thursday night.
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That’s why Kerr tabbed the Celtics as the team to beat in the East — eventually. Boston is shorthanded without Hayward, relying more than they’d like on young role players. But, Kerr said, “That looks like a team that is going to be at the top of the East for a long time to come. Whether their time is now or the future, that's to be determined, but they sure look like they want it to be right now.”
The Celtics’ arrival as kings of the East this season will depend on Cleveland, and whether the Cavs’ problems are simply a matter of lax effort or a sign of deeper flaws in the roster. It’ll also depend on what LeBron James does this summer — if he bolts for the West Coast, the Celtics should ascend to the top of the conference easily next year, chased by Washington and Toronto, with Philadelphia shaping up as the likely future challenger.
The Warriors-Celtics matchup then, could be a harbinger, depending on how long the Warriors keep their group together and how the Celtics and the East shape up. The Celtics are on a 13-game winning streak and have seized very early control over the Eastern Conference, which, with only a handful of exceptions (Pistons, Knicks, Magic), has been littered with disappointments in the first month of the season.
The Warriors come to town on a streak of their own, winners of seven straight. But what’s eye-catching about Golden State’s run has been the way they have pummeled all comers, winning by an average of 19.9 points, outshooting opponents by a margin of 52.4 percent to 42.5 percent. They’re steamrolling through their schedule just now.
There have been times in the past two seasons when it has looked as though the only team capable of stopping the Warriors are the Warriors themselves. On Thursday, they’ll get a look at the team that happens to look most like them — and should be their biggest threat, sooner or later.