With there being 1,230 regular season games in a single season, it's difficult to ascribe a ton of stakes to a single matchup, especially in mid-January. However, a game between the defending champion Golden State Warriors and championship runner-up Boston Celtics is no ordinary matchup. Stephen Curry and the Warriors will want to prove their dominance once more, while Jayson Tatum and the Celtics will push ever so hard to avenge their finals defeat, even in a regular season setting.

And their clash on Thursday night proved to be the competitive, balls to the wall game many expected when they encircled this matchup on the calendar. In the end, it was Jayson Tatum and the Celtics that proved victorious as they claimed a 121-118 overtime win that went down the wire. Understandably, NBA Twitter exploded into bits over such a thrilling conclusion to one of the most exciting regular season games this year.

The Warriors appeared to be on track to sweep the season series over the Celtics, as they led for much of the fourth quarter. However, Stephen Curry's poor fourth quarter left the door open for the Celtics to storm back from a nine-point deficit early in the payoff period. Curry may be a truly beloved figure, but he was not able to escape criticism after he went 1-7 with two turnovers in the final frame, including a missed triple over Al Horford that could have proven to be the dagger.

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Even then, the Warriors remained in control late in the game, leading by three with 28 seconds to go thanks to an easy layup from Curry.

But Jaylen Brown and the Celtics don't know when to quit. Despite shooting horribly for much of the night in his return from a three-game absence, Brown stepped up when it mattered most, draining a three to send the game to overtime.

The Celtics took control in overtime, even if their win in the end was not as comfortable as it could have been, thanks to a questionable foul call on an Andrew Wiggins three and a boneheaded turnover that allowed the Warriors to cut the lead to three. The Celtics then almost threw the game away, but Jaylen Brown saved the ball from going out of bounds which essentially sealed the game for Boston.

At the end of the day, no one will be complaining if the Warriors and Celtics match up once more deep into the postseason.