About one year ago, the Celtics went to the Bay Area and got a reality check.

Last December, the C’s entered with a league-best 21-5 record into their NBA Finals rematch with the Warriors and were handed a painful loss, a reminder of how far they still had to go to reach their championship goal. It set off a losing stretch that exposed some of their biggest flaws and inconsistencies.

On Tuesday, the Celtics brought their league-best 20-5 mark to the Chase Center. They left with some more learning to do after another loss to Steph Curry.

It’s too early to say this is the same wake-up call they suffered last December. But as good, consistent and focused the Celtics have looked through the first two months of the season, it was a night that showed they still have growth to do, the kind of night that can’t be repeated too many times when the playoffs come.

The Celtics blew a 17-point lead. They let their foot off the gas. They struggled in crunch time. All the things that have prevented them from reaching the mountaintop the last few seasons. And then Curry delivered some painful 2022 Finals-esque flashbacks, handing the Celtics a 132-126 overtime loss.

Derrick White scored 30 points, which included seven 3-pointers. Jaylen Brown had 28. But the Celtics’ offense got stuck late, and Curry took over. His ridiculous second-chance 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining in overtime sealed it and snapped the Celtics’ five-game winning streak.