Stephen Curry missed a long three-pointer to try and tie it with 5.3 seconds left and the Golden State Warriors suffered their first home defeat in more than 14 months, losing 109-106 to the Boston Celtics on Friday night to snap an NBA-record 54-game winning streak in the regular season at Oracle Arena.
That included 36 straight home wins to start this season. Golden State hadn’t lost at home since a 113-111 overtime defeat to the Chicago Bulls on January 27, 2015.
Now, the Warriors (68-8) must win five of their final six games to break the 1995/96 Bulls’ record of 72 wins.
Isaiah Thomas made a driving layup with 8.3 seconds left on the way to 22 points for Boston. He scored 18 of his points in the third quarter when Curry got hot from three-point land.
Shaun Livingston hit two free throws with 46.9 seconds left to get Golden State within two at 105-103, then Draymond Green wrestled the ball away from Amir Johnson moments later for his sixth steal and Golden State called timeout. But Green lost the ball with 23.9 seconds left.
Evan Turner made a pair of free throws with 18.1 seconds to go before Harrison Barnes’ baseline three on a dish from Curry.
But Curry’s final look from long range fell short on a night he had been spectacular from beyond the arc. Barnes grabbed the offensive rebound and missed on a desperation heave with 0.2 seconds left.
Curry went coast to coast and behind his back for a layup to make it 103-101 with 1:29 to go. Boston answered once more, this time on Turner’s jumper.
Curry shimmied and swiveled his hips, celebrating as three-pointers kept finding the net – he made eight of them to score 29 points – and for a change that wasn’t enough for the sloppy defending champs, who couldn’t overcome 22 turnovers that led to 27 points for the Celtics.
Green tried to rally the Warriors on his own. In order, he had a three-point play, a three-pointer and a putback with 3:58 left that pulled the Warriors within three at 99-96.
Trailing 82-79 going into the fourth marked just the Warriors’ sixth deficit after three quarters at home this season.
Marcus Smart’s three-pointer with 8:41 left put the Celtics up 93-83, and Smart took an elbow to the chin from Barnes in the backcourt with 7:20 left. Every play like that mattered for the Celtics to accomplish what no other team had done in so long.
And Boston did it in the second game of a back-to-back no less following Thursday’s 116-109 loss at the Portland Trail Blazers.
Golden State won the first meeting on December 11, 124-119 in two overtimes in a game featuring 22 lead changes and 16 ties as the Warriors improved to 24-0. They lost at the Milwaukee Bucks the next night for the first defeat after a record-setting start.
April Fool’s
At shootaround Friday morning, Steve Kerr told Green he wasn’t playing against the Celtics.
That joke went nowhere.
“It didn’t get much of a laugh and Draymond glared at me, so it didn’t go over well,” Kerr said. “I told him I was going to give him the night off because he needed a rest. He just glared at me. I said, ‘April Fool’s,’ and nobody laughed, and I said, ‘All right, it’s time to start practice’.”
Green hit two three-pointers to start the game.
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