In the near-year since the Celtics last faced the Warriors in Oracle, much has changed. Such as: 2/3 (!) of the Celtics roster.

As the two teams prepare to do battle tonight, however, two things remain the same. 1. Steph Curry loves to trash talk. And Jaylen Brown can give as good as he takes.

It’s not as though Stephen Curry and Brown will be matched up at the start of a typical possession. Considering the job Kyrie did on Steph in the 2016 NBA finals, and the length of Klay Thompson, it’s probably not how things will start out.

But the Celtics love switch, and the Warriors move with and without the ball. We’ll be shocked if there aren’t some key Steph-Jaylen interactions. Sometime in the third or fourth quarter, Boston’s long and speedy defender padawan is bound to wind up facing the extreme-3 sith shooter, and, well.

We can almost hear the faint sound of light-sabres humming out in the background. Indeed, we’re hoping for it.

Steph’s finger-rollll…

All of which calls to mind last season’s Celtics-Warriors matchup. And one of our favorite trash talk episodes not involving Larry Bird.

Late in the third quarter, as the clock wound down, Curry took the ball, gave Brown a nice pump fake, and tossed in a step-by 3-point quarter-buzzer-beater.

(It was actually okay defense by Brown. He didn’t foul, and forced Curry to move his shoulders and slide by to the right. But it was even better offense. We give it a 10 for results.)

As the two teams headed to the bench, Curry executed a trademark mini-shimmy. He also offered a few words for the Celtic rookie, punctuated by a finger-point-wag that seemed one part school-marmy, one part Dikembe Mutombo.

MVP to rook 1

After the game, a bewildered Brown said he hadn’t done anything he was aware of to attract Curry’s taunt. He seemed almost flattered to be trash-talked by the two-time, reigning MVP.

We wondered at the time if it wasn’t simply a Jesus Shuttlesworth moment for Steph. You know: game knows game. Perhaps Steph was recognizing, ahead of the rest of the league, Brown’s emerging skills as a defender.

So why is it one of our favorite finger-points in Celtic history?

Well, partly because tonight’s game, and even some previous Celtics-Warriors matchups, have been a little short of trash-talk supply. Steve Kerr and Kevin Durant spent most of the week heaping praise on Brown, Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and even the Celtic bench.

But it’s more because, well, yah.