Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Stephen Curry: “They’re tough, man. Their record is still above .500, but they’ve played better than their record I think. They’ve got some big wins on the road against some tough teams, OKC, Atlanta. And when they win, they win big. They really show out. So you know they have that punch, that firepower. They provide a couple of matchup problems with some of the bigs that can step out and shoot threes and space the floor. You don’t really know where it’s coming from on a nightly basis, which is tough.”

MassLive: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors impressed by Boston Celtics

Added Bogut, “They’re good, man. You hear things. They say they don’t have a superstar-superstar, but they’re a hell of a coached team. I was very impressed with the way they were coached. They go very, very deep, which isn’t something that most NBA teams do. (Brad Stevens) has confidence in all his guys. They’re a very good team. I really like them.

Herald: Champs show respect

I’m reminded of the end of Rocky when the final bell rings and Creed says “ain’t gonna be no rematch.” He didn’t want to go through that battle again, and I’m sure the Warriors aren’t looking too forward to April 1 (Maybe by then they will have lost a game. Maybe.)

That link is full of quotes from the Warriors praising the young, tough, but not fully formed Boston Celtics team. It’s like telling the parents of a young kid that he’s the best athlete in middle school and he’s really gonna be something. This team generally plays its ass off, and generally plays together to form a more powerful unit than any one player on this roster would make you expect.

Individually, there are a lot of flawed players here… from Isaiah Thomas down to Jordan Mickey. Together, though, their strengths mesh to form a pretty strong unit… a unit that is capable of giving the best team in the league a run for its money.

There is still a long way to go, though. That middle school kid still has to get bigger and stronger… and there are pitfalls along the way that could derail him. The Celtics still can’t close tight games yet… they look panicked in those clutch situations without any clear #1 option to either take the shot or be the decoy. But that comes with time.

For now, we’ll just touch gloves and go back to our respective corners. The Celtics know they can be in the fight with anyone… and the rest of the league knows these boys in Green will not back down.

They didn’t win the “statement game,” but they still made a pretty big statement last night.

Here’s video of Steph Curry lauding the Celtics.

Related links: CSNNE: Loss aside, Warriors have a lot of praise for Celtics  |  MassLive: Bradley, Celtics earn Warriors respect, but not a win

Page 2: The atmosphere was electric

It was a reminder of how this building used to rock. Back when Boston was an honest-to-goodness title contender a half-decade ago. When these sort of epic showdowns were the norm and not just an occasional treat.

For a solid four hours Friday — from the moment Stephen Curry hit the floor for his hypnotizing pregame warm-up until Jae Crowder‘s 3-pointer that might have forced a third overtime clanged off the iron — Boston was the center of the basketball universe.

ESPN: Celtcs, Warriors make the Garden rock again

All I’m going to say is it was nice to have that level of excitement in the Garden again. It’s not always great or easy to cheer for a young team in the middle “the process” but at least we have a young team in Boston that’s progressing…. as opposed to some other cities along the eastern seaboard.

The rest of the links

Globe: Warriors edge Celtics in double OT  |  Warriors aren’t afraid of making history  |  CSNNE: Stevens: Final plays didn’t go as planned  | Celtics make Curry work for 38 points  |  Celtics push champs to limit but can’t quite finish  |  ESPN Boston: Draymond Green leads Warriors past Celtics  |  WEEI: Celtics lose a heartbreaker  |  MassLive: Watch Steph Curry’s incredible warmup session  |  ProJo: Young heading in the right direction  |  Herald: Olynyk blossoms in happy Garden  |  Young sees prime time