Kelly Olynyk (second from right) of the Boston Celtics passes the ball under pressure from Golden State Warriors’ players during their NBA match at the TD Garden in Boston, USA, on Thursday. The Warriors won 124-119. — AFP
Kelly Olynyk (second from right) of the Boston Celtics passes the ball under pressure from Golden State Warriors’ players during their NBA match at the TD Garden in Boston, USA, on Thursday. The Warriors won 124-119. — AFP
The Golden State Warriors stretched their sensational season-opening NBA winning streak to 24 games on Friday with a hard-fought 124-119 double-overtime victory over the Celtics in Boston.
NBA scoring leader Stephen Curry drained two free throws with 13.4 seconds left in the second overtime, and Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala added two more foul shots with 5.4 seconds remaining as Golden State held off the tenacious Celtics.
Their 27th straight win had already tied for the second-longest streak ever, and now they trail only the 33 in a row won by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.
But it was a close-run thing for a Warriors team missing injured starters Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes.
Curry, who went into the contest leading the league with an average of 32.2 points per game, made just nine of 27 shots from the floor. Fiercely defended by the Celtics, he made eight turnovers and his two free throws were his only points of the second overtime. “Nothing was pretty about this game. But we got stops, everybody contributed considering the injuries we had and this being the end of the road trip — huge win for us,” said the reigning MVP in NBA Stephen Curry.
