Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is defended by Golden State’s Klay Thompson in the first half Sunday at TD Garden. Tatum scored 27 points before leaving the one-sided game midway through the third quarter as Boston won, 140-88. Steven Senne/Associated Press
BOSTON — Jaylen Brown scored 29 points, Jayson Tatum had 27 on his 26th birthday, and the NBA-best Boston Celtics posted their third-largest winning margin in franchise history, drubbing the weary Golden State Warriors 140-88 on Sunday.
Payton Pritchard added 19 points for Boston, which extended its season-best winning streak to 11 games. The Celtics led by a franchise-record 44 points at halftime and pushed it to 51 early in the third quarter before Coach Joe Mazzulla went to his reserves the rest of the way.
“It feels great, but, at the same time, it’s always within humility,” Brown said. “We don’t take the game for granted. We didn’t come and mess around and that’s just how we show our respect to the game; we handle business and take care of it. … It’s a lot of respect for the Golden State Warriors, but we feel like it’s our time now.”
Stephen Curry didn’t play in the second half and finished with a season-low four points for Golden State, his fewest since he had three points in 16 minutes on March 16, 2022, at Boston – a game he departed because of a foot injury. Curry was 2 of 13 from the field Sunday and missed all nine of his 3-point attempts, including consecutive airballs in the opening quarter.
“The way that they’ve been playing, they seem very sure of themselves in their identity and who they are,” Curry said. “Give them credit. They came out and whooped us tonight from the jump, and it was one of those perfect storms of a rough (day) on our end and them taking it to us.”
It was the fourth-worst loss in franchise history for the Warriors. The Warriors had won 11 of 13, including the first three of their East Coast trip that included three games in four days and a difficult trip to Toronto in which they sat on an airport tarmac for hours overnight.
Lester Quinones led Golden State with 17 points in a team-high 33 minutes. None of the Warriors’ starters played more than 20 minutes, and Moses Moody (11 points) was the only one to score in double figures.
“We lost,” Draymond Green said. “Just flush it and move on.”
Boston’s only bigger blowout wins were 133-77 at Chicago on Dec. 8, 2018, and 128-75 over visiting Sacramento on Jan. 25, 2022.
Celtics forward Kristaps Porzingis missed the game because of a bruised left quad.
The game was tied at 21-all in the opening quarter before the Celtics scored the next 14 points to begin a 58-13 spree that put them ahead by 45 late in the second quarter.
Brown sparked the run by hitting three straight 3s in a 40-second span, with the Warriors’ Draymond Green playing some interesting defense by leaving him Brown alone and dropping off by at least 5 feet several times in the opening quarter.
“We told Jaylen, ‘If they’re going to keep doing that, you should shoot 20, 30 3s,’” Pritchard said.
Brown scored 19 points in the quarter, connecting on 5 of 8 3s, to push Boston to a 44-22 lead.
“First time it’s ever happened to me,” Brown said of the lax defense. “Honestly, I was a bit surprised. It took a little bit of adjusting and I think we just took advantage of whatever that attempt was and made the best of it.
“If you wanna dare me to shoot, we can do that, too,” he added. “I thought it was a little disrespectful, but we took advantage of it and we didn’t look back.”
Curry, listed as questionable because of right knee bursitis, went through warmups and decided to play. He front-rimmed his first 3 before airballing the next two.
“Boston was amazing. We weren’t beating them today,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said. “This was not a day off for Steph, though he probably could have used one. He’s played so well and for so long this year, hopefully the next few days he’ll get it recharged.”
In the opening quarter, Boston shot 62.5% on 3s (10 of 16) and 57.1% overall (16 of 28).
Tatum’s 3 from the left wing pushed it to 74-34 in the second quarter.
The Warriors missed 15 of 18 3-point attempts in the first half, and Boston had as many 3s (15 of 24) in the half as Golden State had baskets.
Boston left the floor to a standing ovation at halftime, holding an 82-38 lead.
In the second half, the crowd was somewhat subdued during the nationally televised matchup between teams that met in the NBA Finals two years ago. Golden State won that series in six games, wrapping it up at Boston.
The fans did give Tatum a standing ovation when his birthday wishes were posted in the final quarter. He waved to the crowd with a big smile.
Derrick White finished with 14 points and Sam Hauser had 12. The Celtics led by 56 points in the second half.
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