Five thoughts on the Celtics' loss to the Warriors on Friday

BOSTON — The NBA-leading Golden State Warriors are tough enough to beat on a normal night. Given that the Boston Celtics were without six players, five of whom were in health and safety protocols, that task became exponentially more difficult on Friday.

The Celtics still almost pulled it off behind a valiant second-half effort as they erased a 20-point deficit but, ultimately, Stephen Curry and the Warriors proved to be too much and Golden State managed a 111-107 victory at TD Garden.

Here are five thoughts about the Celtics (14-15), who are in a precarious playoff position:

Plenty of heart and guts in the second half

On the first leg of back-to-back games and with three rotation players sidelined in Al Horford, Grant Williams and Dennis Schroder, along with losing Romeo Langford in the first half to a neck injury, it felt as if could have been a pack-it-in scenario for the Celtics.

But Boston showed a resiliency it has seldom shown throughout this season to battle back from a 14-point halftime deficit. The Celtics battened down defensively, holding the Warriors to 14 points in the third quarter after surrendering 68 points in the first half. Jayson Tatum (27 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists) and Jaylen Brown (20 points, 9 rebounds) also stepped up in the frame, combining to score 17 of Boston's first 18 points.

"Loved the fight and effort overall," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. "Shorthanded or not, we've got capable guys out there. We felt we defended at the proper level in the second half."

Even though the Celtics trailed by 10 points with under four minutes to go, they kept clawing, with Marcus Smart leading the charge. Smart, who tallied 19 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds, had the Celtics scrapping until the final buzzer as he dove for loose balls, got an offensive foul call on Curry and brought the Celtics to within 109-107 by hitting a 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds left.

It's that type of determination that will carry the Celtics. On the flip side, it seems to only happen when they need to overcome a large deficit.

The Stephen Curry show

Curry arrived in Boston fresh off becoming the NBA's all-time 3-pointer leader and It looked as if he was going to put together another stunning performance when he scored 16 points in the first quarter.

While Curry finished with a game-high 30 points, he went only 3-of-14 from the field over the final three quarters. Boston made it tough for him to get clean looks but he still found a way at the end to provide the most pivotal baskets.

Curry made a key 3-pointer off a long offensive rebound with 4:24 left and came through with an even bigger bucket on a floater in the lane with 35 seconds left to give the Warriors some breathing room. Curry was buoyed by Andrew Wiggins, who netted 27 points on 11-of-20 shooting.

Missed opportunities

In any comeback that falls short, it's easy to lament the chances the Celtics didn't take full advantage of or the ones that ended up costing them.

In the final second of the first half, Boston basically gave the Warriors four free points when Smart inexplicably fouled Curry on a heave from beyond half court. Udoka disagreed with the call and received a technical, which allowed Curry to sink four straight free throws.

"[Curry's] a guy you have to pick up at every point on the court," Udoka said. "Might have got overaggressive there. It looked like Marcus didn't jump or contest it. He put his hands up, obviously, and Curry jumped forward a little bit. They said it was foul. It's a tough one to give up, obviously, when you work your way back into the game, so we were all disappointed with that."

The Celtics had their own issues at the charity stripe, missing eight free throws in the second half. Robert Williams and Brown combined to miss four free throws in the first 3:20 of the third quarter and Williams missed another crucial pair with the Celtics trailing by seven with 2:05 left.

Lackluster first half

Even with a few of Boston's big men absent from the contest, Udoka didn't seem too worried about the rebounding department prior to the game.

But in the first half, the Warriors outworked the Celtics on the glass by grabbing nine of their 12 offensive rebounds in the opening 24 minutes. The Warriors set the tone on the first possession of the game when it got four offensive rebounds in a row.

Udoka said he showed the team some clips at halftime displaying the Warriors outhustling the Celtics.

"We definitely did it to ourselves," Smart said. "Offensive rebounding, they're getting second-, third-, fourth-chance shots. They outhustled us and they outworked us. Like Ime talked about it, the basketball gods rewarded them for that. We can't put ourselves in that situation."

Aaron Nesmith roller-coaster ride

Buckle up when it comes to the play of Aaron Nesmith. The second-year forward brings a ton of energy to the court with his all-out hustle, but he still has yet to find a way to play with control — it's earned him the nickname Crash Bandicott, according to Smart. That proves beneficial and harmful as he tries to carve out a role in Boston's rotation.

Nesmith had three straight offensive possessions midway through the fourth quarter that characterized the wide range of his up-and-down play. First, he missed a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner, only to get the ball in the same spot on the following trip down the floor. This time, he drove baseline and converted a strong three-point play. The next time the Celtics were on offense, however, he turned the ball over.

Nesmith, who also drew a charge on Curry late in the third quarter, played 23 minutes and chipped in with 11 points.

GOLDEN STATE (111): Green 2-6 2-2 6, Wiggins 11-20 0-0 27, Looney 2-3 2-4 6, Curry 8-21 9-9 30, Moody 1-6 0-0 2, Bjelica 2-7 2-2 7, Kuminga 1-2 0-0 2, Porter Jr. 3-5 0-0 6, Toscano-Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Iguodala 5-9 0-0 12, Chiozza 0-2 0-0 0, Lee 2-6 2-2 8, Payton II 2-3 0-2 5; totals 39-90 17-21 111.

BOSTON (107): Langford 0-3 2-2 2, Tatum 9-19 6-6 27, Williams III 3-6 1-5 7, Brown 8-16 0-2 20, Smart 6-12 5-6 19, Nesmith 3-8 3-4 11, Freedom 3-5 0-0 6, Pritchard 0-2 0-0 0, Richardson 4-10 3-4 15, Thomas 0-1 0-0 0; totals 36-82 20-29 107.

3-Point Goals — Golden State 16-46 (Wiggins 5-7, Curry 5-14, Lee 2-5, Iguodala 2-6, Bjelica 1-2, Payton II 1-2, Chiozza 0-2, Moody 0-2, Porter Jr. 0-2, Green 0-3), Boston 15-41 (Brown 4-7, Richardson 4-7, Tatum 3-10, Nesmith 2-6, Smart 2-6, Langford 0-2, Pritchard 0-2). Fouled Out — Golden State 1 (Curry), Boston None. Rebounds — Golden State 45 (Looney 10), Boston 45 (Williams III 11). Assists — Golden State 27 (Green 8), Boston 20 (Smart 8). Total Fouls — Golden State 25, Boston 19. A — 19,156 (18,624)

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: The Boston Celtics fall to the Golden State Warriors, 111-107, on Friday