Recap: Golden State Warriors Win in Double OT Over Boston

The Golden State Warriors keep the streak alive with a double-overtime win over Boston Celtics.

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The Golden State Warriors were able to pull out a double overtime road win over the Boston Celtics on Friday, winning 124-119.

The two teams, in overtime, traded baskets, until Andre Iguodala hit a three to put the Warriors up 108-105. Unable to capitalize on their advantage, the Warriors failed to keep Boston from retying the game, and in a complete replay of the first overtime quarter, Thomas ultimately came up short on the game winner before the Iguodala failed to get the ball inbounded for the game winning alley-oop.

It was heart stopping, gut wrenching endeavor in the second overtime period as both teams remained determined to win no matter what the cost. Every single time the Warriors took the lead, Boston was right there to claw back into the game. However, the Warriors were able to out-grind the Celtics by the end of the night for the win.

Stephen Curry led the way for the Warriors with 38 points, adding in 11 rebounds and eight assists. Also with double-doubles tonight were Draymond Green (24 points, 11 rebounds), Iguodala (13 points, 10 rebounds), and Festus Ezeli (12 points, 12 rebounds). Shaun Livingston joined them in double-digit scoring, dropping in 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting.

Kelly Olnynyk paced the Celtics, tallying 28 points in arguably his best game as an NBA basketball player. Joining him in double-digit scoring were Isaiah Thomas (18), Avery Bradley (19), Jae Crowder (15), Evan Turner (13), and former Warriors player, David Lee (10).

The Warriors started out incredibly slow to take the early 4-0 lead, highlighted by two blocks by Amir Johnson on Ian Clark — starting in place of the injured Klay Thompson — and an air ball from Stephen Curry. Curry made up for that miss by hitting his first three of the game to put the Warriors up 7-3.

Golden State, however, proved unprepared for Boston’s initial defensive intensity, which forced the Warriors to call time after Boston took the 15-10 lead in which they also limited the Warriors to 4-for-17 shooting. Avery Bradley, who also proved to be great at bothering Curry for much of the game, led the Celtics offense over that stretch, scoring 12 first quarter points.

The Warriors regained their footing offensively after Luke Walton inserted Andre Iguodala into the game to steady the team, but they continued to trade baskets with the Celtics for the remaining of the first quarter. Funny enough, up a point with 11 seconds left in Q1, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens opted to intentionally foul Festus Ezeli, who made both free throws to give Golden State the one point lead going into the second quarter.

The Warriors ended the first half up 57-53 with Boston continuing to pester Golden State with their scrappy defense and hustle plays, but that wasn’t even the biggest story of the second quarter. Other than the horrendous officiating (which included Jared Sullinger getting a practice free throw), the biggest story of the first half was the play-by-play by Boston’s announcers:

The third quarter saw Boston continue their scrappy defensive scheme, notably keeping Curry from getting hot by putting Bradley on him. After being assessed for his fourth foul despite not even being in the play, Curry was forced to come out of the game with a stat line of 20 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three turnovers:

Warriors went into the fourth quarter on a 82-75 lead, but the lead was soon diminished as Boston went on a 11-1 run to start the quarter. After a timeout at the 8:53 mark, Curry and Draymond Green were inserted back into the game for Leandro Barbosa and Marreese Speights.

The Warriors continued to play sloppily, giving up a number of turnovers; however, they were still able to tie things up at 89 with 6:33 left in the game following a couple dunks from Iguodala and Green.

Boston was incredible down the stretch, making HUGE plays on both ends of the floor. Of note was Evan Turner, who proved himself to be a solid Curry-stopper aside Avery Bradley. Using his length to stick to and bother Curry, Turner caused Curry to play out of rhythm for a good deal of the final quarter, resulting in several blocks and what seemed like an endless series of careless turnovers.

The Warriors were down one when Green was able to secure a rebound at the 1:03 mark, then this happened:

Even so, Isaiah Thomas was able to tie up the game at 103 with an uncontested layup. Curry missed the go-ahead midrange jumper, and in an attempt to win the game, Thomas tried a three, but was blocked by Livingston. Warriors called timeout with less than a second left, but Iguodala failed to get the ball to Ezeli, who was cutting to the basket for the game winning alley-oop. A three-point field goal attempt from Olynyk fell short on the other end, leading to overtime.

Tale of the Tape

Warriors

• Field-goal percentage: 39.3% (42-107)
• Three-point percentage: 29.0% (9-31)
• Rebounds: 67
• Assists: 28
• Turnovers: 18

Celtics

• Field-goal percentage: 43.0% (49-114)
• Three-point percentage: 36.4% (12-33)
• Rebounds: 51
• Assists: 32
• Turnovers: 15

What’s on Tap

Golden State Warriors (24-0) face the Milwaukee Bucks (9-15) at BMO Harris Bradley Center on Saturday.