BOSTON (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 37 points, making four straight free throws to clinch it in the final seconds and the Golden State Warriors erased a 26-point deficit to beat the Boston Celtics 106-101 on Sunday night.
Golden State won for the seventh time in nine tries and snapped Boston’s three-game winning streak. Klay Thompson scored 20 for the Warriors, Harrison Barnes had 17 and Draymond Green scored 11 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.
Isaiah Thomas scored 20 points off the bench for Boston. Jae Crowder had a career-high 17 rebounds to go with his nine points, but his 3-pointer with a chance to give Boston the lead with under a minute left rolled around the rim and out.
Andre Iguodala followed with a layup to give Golden State a three-point lead, driving down the center of the lane as the final seconds ticked off the shot clock.
Thomas made a layup, then Curry sank two free throws to make it 104-101 with 10.5 seconds left. Thomas had an open 3-pointer, but it bounced off the back of the rim and Curry grabbed the rebound.
He made another pair of free throws to clinch it.
It’s the first time since the Warriors moved West from Philadelphia in 1962 that they have won four straight games against the Celtics.
Boston led by 13 at the end of the first quarter despite 14 points from Curry. Boston stretched it to 56-30 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Crowder and Jonas Jerebko midway through the second.
But the Warriors had cut the deficit to 16 points by halftime and scored nine straight points early in the third quarter — seven of them by Curry — to bring it into single digits. It was 86-75 after three before Golden State scored the first six points of the fourth on a 3-pointer by Green and Shaun Livingston’s three-point play.
It was 92-87 when the Warriors went on a 9-2 run, tying it 94-all on Iguodala’s dunk and taking the lead on Green’s tip-in.
Tip-ins
Warriors: The Warriors gave up 17 fast-break points in the first half before scoring their first. … Golden State plays three games in four nights and finishes its six-game road trip Monday at Brooklyn.
Celtics: Thomas had his fifth straight game with at least 19 points off the bench. The last Celtic with four in a row was Kevin McHale in 1990. … Boston’s next win against the Warriors franchise will be its 200th.
Up next:
Warriors: Visit Brooklyn on Monday.
Celtics: At Cleveland on Tuesday.
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