The Warriors winning streak now stands at a season-best six games after they earned a 104-88 road victory over the Celtics on Friday night. Klay Thompson led all scorers with 28 points, while Kevin Durant stuffed the stat sheet with 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. With the win, Golden State improves to 10-2 on the season and 2-0 on their current four-game road trip.
The last four meetings between these two teams had all been decided by five points or less, but when all was said and done, Friday’s game followed a considerably different tune. Golden State took their first lead of the game midway through the opening quarter, and as it turned out, they wouldn’t trail for the rest of the contest. After Marcus Smart evened the score at 12 just under five minutes into the game, the Warriors took their largest lead of the first half with a 9-0 run, capped by Kevin Durant’s only three-pointer of the night. That stretch included three rebounds by Zaza Pachulia, whose total of eight in the frame were the most by any Warriors player in a quarter this season. Isaiah Thomas would bring the drought to an end with his first four points of the game, which Andre Iguodala matched in immediate response.
GAME LEADERS
Boston then answered back with their own 9-0 run to pull even at 27 before Durant found a streaking James Michael McAdoo for a dunk to close out the scoring in the quarter with the Dubs up two.
On five separate occasions in the second quarter, Golden State built their lead back up to eight points, but each and every time, Boston had an answer to thwart the Warriors’ ability to open up some breathing room. After Stephen Curry’s 23-foot jumper put the Warriors up 44-36 with 4:52 left in the half, the Celtics responded with an 8-2 burst to pull within two, thanks in large part to two three-pointers from Gerald Green. Boston would get no closer, however, and the final two of Klay Thompson’s game-high 17 points in the first half sent the game into halftime with the Warriors up 55-48.
As tight at the first half was, the second was an entirely different story. Unable to build a double-digit lead in the first half, Golden State wasted no time doing so in the second, as Thompson and Green would hit back-to-back three-pointers to open the scoring. Thomas answered back with a three-pointer of his own for the Celtics, but that would be their final points for quite some time, while the Warriors suffered no such trouble. Thompson’s jumper on the ensuing possession ignited an 18-0 Golden State run, punctuated by an alley-oop from Curry to Durant that put the game out of reach from that point on.
David West’s jumper at the quarter buzzer put the exclamation point on a quarter thoroughly dominated by the Dubs and gave them their largest lead up to that point in the game at 86-57. In total, the Warriors outscored Boston 31-9 in the frame while holding the Celtics to 2-of-17 shooting and forcing five turnovers.
Golden State would achieve its largest lead of the night when Durant’s layup put the Warriors up 88-58 fifty seconds into the fourth and final frame. Boston would trim down their advantage significantly in the remainder of the quarter, but the damage had been done. Tyler Zeller split free throws to pull the Celtics within 11 with 1:25 remaining in the quarter, but would get no closer, as the Warriors rounded out their eventual 104-88 victory.
With the win, Golden State improves to 10-2 on the season. They’ll attempt to remain undefeated on their current four-game road trip when they travel to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks on Saturday.