STILL GOLDEN
Warriors outlast Celtics in 2 OT, pushing perfect start to 24-0
BOSTON — The Warriors needed two overtimes to remain perfect on a very imperfect night from the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player.
Stephen Curry scored 38 points despite his worst shooting performance of the season, adding 11 rebounds and eight assists Friday night as the Warriors improved to 240 by outlasting the Celtics 124119 in double overtime.
“Exhausting, but it was fun,” Curry said. “Obviously, it was nice to get the win. But we had to claw our way to it.”
Counting the wins in their final four games last season, the defending NBA champions have taken 28 regularseason games in a row. That broke a tie with the 201213 Heat for the secondlongest winning streak in league history, and now trails only the 33 straight by the Lakers in 197172.
The Warriors play the Bucks on Saturday night to complete a sevengame road trip. No NBA team has ever gone 70 on a single road trip.
“We will definitely cherish this, because it doesn’t happen often,” center Andrew Bogut said. “The record, the history, the team — it doesn’t happen often so we will cherish it. Who knows? Next year you could be on a different team and nobody’s talking about you.”
Curry made only 9of27 shots from the field, a .333 shooting percentage that was his worst since Game 2 of the NBA Finals against Cleveland. But he was 6for13 from 3point range and a perfect 14for14 from the free throw line.
“He can score in so many different ways,” Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said. “They did a phenomenal job on him and he scored 38. But that’s how superstars are in this league.”
The Celtics had two chances to win it at the end of regulation, tied 103all, but Shaun Livingston blocked Isaiah Thomas’ attempt. After Golden State’s try at an alleyoop off the inbounds pass failed, Boston had the ball with 0.7 seconds left, but Kelly Olynyk’s offbalance jumper was wide.
Curry sank a pair of foul shots — his only points of the second overtime — with 13.4 seconds left to give the Warriors a threepoint lead. Jae Crowder then missed a 3pointer to tie it, and Andre Iguodala got the rebound and drew a foul.
That sent the Boston fans to the exits, but the Golden State crowd remained to see Iguodala sink both free throws and keep the winning streak alive.
“They’re the champs. They did what they’re supposed to do,” Celtics swingman Evan Turner said. “Curry, you know, he still made it work.”
Olynyk scored 28 points for Boston, and Avery Bradley had 19 while guarding Curry much of the night.