The Golden State Warriors have made a statement early in the 2024-2025 season, with a thrilling 118-112 victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Wednesday night. The win pushed the Warriors to a 7-1 record, placing them in a three-way tie with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns for the best record in the Western Conference. This outcome comes just weeks after superstar guard Stephen Curry’s declaration at media day, when he said the Warriors were "in a position where we can be a relevant team early and give ourselves a chance to compete... and then assess where we are."

Despite their strong start, Curry, who finished with 27 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals in 34 minutes, was careful not to get ahead of himself. “We haven’t done anything yet,” he said with a wry smile in the visitors' locker room. “A good team, or a relevant team, wins the games they are supposed to win, steals a couple on the road against good teams, and protects your home court. We've done those things so far, but we got two more games on this road trip, two tough tests. So I like where we're at, obviously, but there’s a long way to go.”

While the Warriors have only played a small portion of the season, the early signs are promising. Under head coach Steve Kerr, Golden State has embraced a deep rotation, with up to 13 players seeing action on any given night. For Wednesday's game, with Brandin Podziemski sidelined due to illness, the Warriors played 11 players, all of whom logged at least 13 minutes. This deep rotation helped the Warriors maintain defensive intensity, constantly shifting fresh legs onto the floor and causing disruption against the Celtics’ offense.

Though Boston made their usual volume of three-pointers, finishing 19-for-54 from beyond the arc, they struggled to execute offensively at times, committing 12 turnovers and appearing out of sync for much of the game. The Celtics had a strong third quarter, scoring 41 points, but outside of that, their offense looked less fluid than it has in recent seasons. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla acknowledged Golden State's defensive pressure, particularly in the first half. “They’re physical, so they force you to fight for your space,” Mazzulla said. “They have active hands, so I think in the first half, they got a ton of deflections. They were able to get some stuff there, but I thought we did a better job of handling the physicality in the second half.”

The turning point in the game came late in the fourth quarter. With 4:18 left and Boston leading 97-96, Gary Payton II dove for a loose ball, securing possession for Golden State after Kerr called a timeout. Over the next three-plus minutes, the Warriors outscored the Celtics 15-7, capitalizing on several consecutive possessions. Key to the Warriors’ success was a pair of critical offensive rebounds by Kevon Looney, including one on an air ball from Draymond Green. These efforts were reminiscent of Looney’s dominant rebounding in the 2022 NBA Finals, where his physical play was pivotal in Golden State’s victory over Boston.

Kerr credited his team’s defense and the sequence of key plays late in the game. “The last five minutes, I thought our defense really showed up,” Kerr said. “The activity, Gary getting on the floor, Loon getting two putbacks, those were maybe the two biggest shots of the game. And then Steph finding Buddy [Hield] in the corner for that 3, I mean, it was all in sequence. It just felt like we connected the game, got stops, and were able to get scores and close it out.”

The victory was especially sweet for the Warriors, coming after Kerr had been booed earlier in the game due to controversy surrounding his decision not to play Jayson Tatum during Team USA’s gold medal run at the Summer Olympics. But with a win in Boston, Golden State walked off the famed parquet floor with a smile.

As impressive as the win was, it only adds to the significance of the Warriors’ upcoming stretch. Their next games include a visit to the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, a matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, and a home game against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, where Klay Thompson will make his return to the court. They’ll also face Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies later in the week.

Though it remains to be seen how long they can maintain their early-season form, Curry remains optimistic about what the Warriors have built so far. "Until proven otherwise, that’s how we have to play," he said. "Coach has talked about it until he's blue in the face already. Every practice, every film session, every pregame, it’s the same message. So it is who we are right now. It’s who we have to be."