BOSTON — For more than three quarters — and nearly four — the Celtics’ NBA Finals demons continued to follow them.
The Warriors, in their first visit to TD Garden since claiming a championship here, continued to inflict familiar pain on the Celtics. Steph Curry hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and danced on Boston’s parquet again. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — in similar fashion to last June — were struggling again, seemingly seeing ghosts whenever they saw a Golden State jersey.
But the Celtics have insisted they learned from last season’s heartbreak, that they’ve grown from their pain and put that past to learning lessons. They’ve done so by marching to the league’s best record. But there seemed to be a mental block against the Warriors, especially after a humbling loss last month in San Francisco.
