The Golden State Warriors extended their season-opening winning streak to 24 games but had to scratch and claw their way to victory over Boston on Friday.
Stephen Curry hit two free throws with 13.4 seconds left in the second overtime and Andre Iguodala added two foul shots with 5.4 on the clock as the Warriors held off the Celtics 124-119.
Draymond Green was asked what he learned about his team after they had to dig deep to beat Boston.
“Everything we already knew,” the forward said. “This is a group that’s going to continue to fight no matter what.”
The Warriors, winning their 28th straight regular season game dating back to last season, trailed by five with 2:07 left in regulation, fought back to tie, survived a sloppy first overtime and then pulled out the win.
“We continue to fight. We believe in ourselves. We believe in each other and we trust each other. So, nothing new. The same old same old, which has made us who we are.”
Curry finished with 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists but made just nine of 27 shots from the floor and was guilty of eight turnovers.
“We appreciate (the streak) because we know that this hasn’t been done in history before, so every game we win from here on out is adding to that record,” Curry said.
“I think the beauty of our team is when we get out there, nobody’s thinking about if we lose, the streak’s over, or we’ve got to go out here and throw a huge home run play out in the first quarter to win the game or what have you to keep the streak going.
“That’s not on our minds, and I think that’s why we are where we are.”
The two free throws were Curry’s only points of the second overtime but Iguodala scored six points in the frame and finished with 13, 10 rebounds and five assists off the bench.
The Celtics (13-10) rallied from 11 points down but fell short against the Warriors, who won their second overtime game of the season and are 6-0 on their current road trip.
"I thought we played really hard," said Boston coach Brad Stevens. "You know, if you're playing against these guys you have to play hard."
Asked if there’s such a thing as a great loss, Stevens said, “No. Not even a good one.”
Kelly Olynyk came off the bench and scored a season-high 28 points and Isaiah Thomas added 18, 10 assists and six rebounds for the Celtics. Avery Bradley, who did much of the defensive work on Curry, had 15 of his 19 points in the first quarter.
“It hurts. We were there the whole time,” said Olynyk.
The Warriors will look to make it 25-0 in Milwaukee as they wrap up a seven-game trip on Saturday while the Celtics visit Charlotte.
