Simone's Six: A near collapse, turnover importance, and Payton Pritchard vs. Kristaps Porzingis in Celtics-Warriors

SAN FRANCISCO —Sometimes, switches flip in an instant. That was the case on Thursday night. The Boston Celtics jumped out to a massive lead in the second quarter, completely dominating the Golden State Warriors.

Then, the fourth came along. Boston turnovers and Golden State threes led Joe Mazzullato put his top rotation guys back in the game. But even then, the Warriors kept fighting.

What happened in between the lines?

1. Warriors fight back

Golden State knows how to swing momentum. “If you take a look at the Warriors as a team, they play a ton of close games, and a lot of it has to do with just their ability to go on runs and do that,” Mazzulla said post-game.

Boston opened the final frame with Payton Pritchard, Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr., Jordan Walsh, and Luka Garza. The Warriors went on a 12-3 run, and Mazzulla called a timeout with 9:49 to go in the fourth.

Obviously, the shots were falling for the Warriors. And they weren’t for the Celtics. But Golden State’s ball pressure had a lot to do with that. They upped their intensity and even broke out a press that Pritchard hasn’t seen in years.

Literally.

“I haven't seen a diamond press like that in a long time,” Pritchard said. “Maybe since college or even AAU days. So, definitely gotta do a better job of just handling.

For those wondering, this is a diamond press.

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via BasketballForCoaches.com

Warriors press vs. Celtics on 2/19

But it was more than that. The Warriors were up in the Celtics’ airspace. They stayed connected in the pick-and-roll. They bodied Boston off the ball, sapping their opponents' energy. They did everything in their power to make the Celtics uncomfortable, and it worked.

2. Then what?

Well, it worked up to a certain point. If it truly worked, then the Warriors would have won the game. So, what happened?

“At the end of the day, coming off the break, I thought our guys had a great attention to detail, had a great purpose to what we did,” Mazzulla said. “And in the last 10-and-a-half minutes, Golden State took it to a different level. And we were forced to be poised, we were forced to have to make plays, we were forced to have to make shots, and get stops. So, that's how they play.”

Boston. Made. Plays.

Basketball isn’t always pretty. If defense wins championships, then inherently, most wins are ugly. And that’s how the Celtics held on for dear life in the midst of Golden State’s fourth-quarter surge.

With the rumbling of the Chase Center crowd ringing in their ears, the Celtics, play by play, held their ground.

A Scheierman drive here. A Sam Hauserbackdoor cut there. They found ways to score. But perhaps most importantly, they trusted Pritchard.

Pritchard was an absolute bucket in the fourth quarter. He had eight points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 from deep, but it wasn’t the quantity with which Pritchard scored that made his buckets stand out. It was the timing.

He assisted Hauser on his backdoor cut and then got a bucket of his own shortly after, halting Golden State’s momentum.

By the six-minute mark, the Warriors had cut a 29-point lead down to just 12. Then, Pritchard nailed two straight threes to pad Boston’s advantage.

He just found a way to slow down the Warriors.

3. The first quarter

“The run in the fourth will get talked about, but really the run in the first was just as impactful from their standpoint,” Mazzulla said. “And I think the first and the fourth was the best version of what that team is, but we were able to take advantage of it.”

The Warriors stormed back into the game in the fourth quarter, but there was a point in the first when this game was on the verge of a blowout, too.

It was small, but Golden State went on a 9-3 run to close the first, capped off by a Will Richardthree at the buzzer. In fact, Richard nailed two threes in the final 30 seconds of the first frame.

That was enough to turn what could have been a double-digit lead for Boston into a mere four-point advantage (36-32) heading into the second.

Those are the types of moments Mazzulla is talking about when he notes the importance of game pockets that aren’t in crunch time.

4. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers

As much as three-point shooting mattered in this game, turnovers told the bigger story. For the Celtics, that story was twofold.

In the first half, they protected the ball. They got up plenty of shots, passed the ball well, and made simple reads out of the two-on-one. But once the fourth quarter came around, the Warriors’ ball pressure got to them.

“We had some bonehead turnovers,” Pritchard said. “Just do better. It's a good learning experience to never take your foot off the pedal.”

That was the key. Live-ball turnovers. By coughing up the rock, the Celtics gift-wrapped opportunities for the Warriors to get back into the game. It was their kryptonite.

But in the first half, it’s what allowed them to succeed on both ends of the court.

“They test your defensive discipline every single possession. And so, I thought, one of the only ways to defend these guys is with your offense,” Mazzulla said. “And I think you saw that in the fourth quarter, where we just had some live-ball turnovers, and they were able to get out in transition. And so, defending them at the highest level starts with our ability to attack them, and we kept them out of transition with our— Not as many live-ball turnovers in that second quarter. We got great shots, and we were able to get back on defense.”

5. Defense

Golden State missed a lot of shots.

A lot of shots.

But part of that was Boston’s ability to hone in on their defensive principles. They knew who they wanted to help off, where they wanted to help from, and when to rotate.

“I thought, for the majority of the game our defense was disciplined, and they test that,” Mazzulla said. “They test your body position, they test your angles, they test your positioning. And I thought we handled it well.”

Boston held Golden State to just 73 points through the first three quarters. They were locked in, even after a week-long break.

But according to Pritchard, that was never going to be an issue.

“It's pretty easy,” Pritchard said. “I mean, the break's not that long. Four or five days you're away. It's like you forget how to play basketball. You come back, you understand the game plan, and you do it.”

6. Payton Pritchard vs. Kristaps Porzingis

What a hilarious jump ball.

With under three minutes to go in the third, Pritchard tried to strip the ball away from Kristaps Porzingis. But the Warriors big man didn’t let go. Neither guy wanted to let go.

They both held on for dear life, walking toward half-court with smiles on their faces. It wasn’t until the referee came to break them up that the two former teammates finally gave up.

Payton Pritchard and Kristaps Porzingis fighting like brothers 🥹 pic.twitter.com/tkJzcm73wY— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) February 20, 2026

But Pritchard let go of the ball first. And he’s not too happy with that result.

“Disappointed myself for letting that go,” Pritchard said with a smile. “Yeah, next time, not doing that.”