the Celtics take a little revenge on the Warriors

The Celtics, undisputed leaders of the championship, carried by Jayson Tatum still omnipresent, reversed a complicated situation to win after extra time (121-118) at the expense of the Warriors, defending champions, Thursday in a remake removed from the last NBA Finals.

“Déjà vu”

This funny feeling – as sang it, within Crosby Stills Nash & Young, the late David Crosby, who died at 81 -, seeing a new victory for the Warriors looming, finally did not hold until the end, in a molten TD Garden, very happy to take his revenge seven months later.

Because Jaylen Brown (16 pts, 9 rebounds), yet struggling with his shot (6/18), succeeded, 18 seconds from time, his only long-range basket of the match. And Boston to survive, after being 11 units behind before this last quarter.

In L'”overtimeTatum took over, scoring five of his 34 points. In the oven and at the mill, he also grabbed 19 rebounds (6 assists, 3 steals). And his basket behind the arc, just after that of Al Horford (20 pts, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks) ended up discouraging the Warriors.

Stephen Curry (29 pts, 7 assists) nevertheless had the winning ball at the end of regulation time, but his three-point shot did not hit the mark. Quite clumsy in the exercise (6/18), he nevertheless managed an exceptional one, from midfield, to the half-time buzzer.

The Warriors will have missed the presence in the last moments of Klay Thompson, released for six faults. Because he was having a good night, his 24 points adding to those of Jordan Poole.

Unrecognizable even lately, the Californians have in any case shown a completely different face and could have sent a big message to the competition with a success, but this defeat shows that they are on the right track, even if they slip into 9th position in the West.

For the Celtics, this eighth victory in a row demonstrates their desire not to let go, leading in the East.

“Turn! Turn! Turn!”

With his Byrds, Crosby took up these words written by Pete Seeger, pioneer of American folk, who borrowed them himself from the Bible (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). The wheel therefore turns in life, as in a basketball game and the Timberwolves have had the happy experience of beating the Raptors (128-126) despite 14 lengths behind nine minutes from time.

Without Rudy Gobert or Karl-Anthony Towns injured, Minnesota (7th in the West) was able to count on D’Angelo Russell who scored 16 of his 25 points in the last quarter, Anthony Edwards having contributed 23.

“Eight Miles High”

As this other Byrds title suggests, it is at very high altitude that Joel Embiid is currently evolving, still decisive with 32 points in the Philadelphia success at Portland (105-95). His seventh game in a row at least 30 units.

The Cameroonian pivot, author of important baskets in the money-time to extinguish the desire for a comeback of the Blazers, however distanced by 26 units in the first period, added 9 rebounds and 3 blocks.

James Harden was a solid lieutenant with a triple-double (16 pts, 14 assists, 10 rebounds). This fourth consecutive success allows Philly (3rd) to come back up to Milwaukee (2nd) with the same record (29-16) in the East.

In 4th place stagnates Brooklyn, defeated in Phoenix (117-112), for the fourth time in a row in the absence of Kevin Durant. Kyrie Irving woke up too late (30 pts) against Mikal Bridges (28 pts) and the Suns, 11th in the West, also in difficulty without their stars, Devin Booker and Chris Paul.

“For What It’s Worth”

For what it’s worth – according to the formula used by Bufffalo Springfield, another formation led by Crosby -, that is to say not much at the proposed show level, the Bulls won (126-108) against the Pistons during the relocated match in Paris.