The Celtics gave the Warriors their best shot, then Stephen Curry exploded for 49

The Celtics and Warriors’ Saturday night showdown was a seesaw affair with each team leading by as much as 10 at different points in the game. But only one player on the floor is a two-time league Most Valuable Player, and that man’s name is Stephen Curry.

Curry lit Boston up for 49 points in Golden State’s 109-105 win, keeping the Celtics from becoming the first team to sweep the Warriors in a season series since Steve Kerr became head coach. He shot 16-of-24 from the field and 8-of-13 from three, nearly outscoring Boston, 18-19, in the third quarter alone.

One of his triples all but buried Boston late in the fourth quarter.

Celtics-Warriors could be a great rivalry

The Celtics have a dynamic scorer at the point guard with versatile, defensively disruptive wings. For that very reason, they gave the Warriors problems in their first matchup of the season and were expected to give them those same issues in Game 2. And at first they did.

Kyrie Irving was red hot in the first quarter, and so was Jaylen Brown. Boston’s league-best defense held the Warriors to just 27 points while their struggling offense shot 62 percent in the first period. Boston even led by double digits at two different points in the first half.

Irving eventually finished with 37 points on 13-of-17 (76.5 percent!) shooting from the field. If only he had another star with him in the starting lineup.

Even when the Warriors seized momentum, they never truly pulled away. Just when Golden State seemed to have the game wrapped up, Terry Rozier hit one of the most improbable fading threes ever. And had Curry not nailed each of his free throws down the stretch, the game could have come down to a last-second shot with the ball in one of the league’s coldest finisher’s hands.

If only this could be a playoff series

“This is like a playoff type game,” Curry said after the game to ESPN’s Israel Gutierrez. “Down to the wire, back-and-forth.”

Too bad we probably won’t see it. This was the final regular season matchup between the Celtics and the Warriors, and odds are the two teams don’t play one another again until next season.

The road for this series to actually happen in the NBA Finals won’t be easy. Boston is as solid as they come, but they’ll have to get by DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and the Raptors, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks and, of course, LeBron James and the forever contending Cleveland Cavaliers to get there.

And if you thought the road to the Finals was clear for the Warrior, you thought wrong. The Rockets — now with James Harden and Chris Paul — are for real time season, and the Spurs, Timberwolves and Thunder will each make life difficult for Golden State, looking to make its fourth straight NBA Finals appearance.

Either way, the Celtics and Warriors put on a show on Saturday night. It’s only a shame we probably have to wait until next season to see a rematch.

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