Warriors close in on perfect 7-0 road trip

Curry not in superb shooting form but his team hold on for double-OT victory in Boston

BOSTON • The Golden State Warriors stretched their sensational National Basketball Association season-opening winning streak to 24 games on Friday with a hard-fought 124-119 double-overtime victory over the Celtics in Boston.

It was the 6th consecutive victory in a seven-stop road trip that will end with a game against the Milwaukee Bucks (Sunday morning, Singapore time).

They can become the first team to go undefeated on a road trip of seven games or longer.

Stephen Curry, the NBA scoring leader, drained two free throws with 13.4 seconds remaining in the second overtime.

Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala added two more foul shots with 5.4 seconds remaining as Golden State managed to hold off the tenacious Celtics.

  • 33.3%

    Stephen Curry hit nine of 27 from the floor for his worst shooting game this season

    46.2%

    Curry was saved by his three-point shooting, six of 13, and was a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line

Warriors, the reigning champions, notched their 28th straight win in a streak stretching back to last season.

Their 27th straight triumph had already tied for the second-longest streak ever. 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 who were missing injured starters Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes.

They trailed by five points with 2:07 left in regulation and Boston had two chances to wrap it up in the waning seconds of regular time.

It was tied 103-103 with 2.9 seconds remaining when Warriors guard Shaun Livingston blocked a shot by Boston's Isaiah Thomas.

After Golden State's attempt to score on an inbounds play failed, the Celtics had the ball with 0.7 second to play but Kelly Olynyk's jumper would not fall.

"It hurts. We were there the whole time," said Olynyk who scored a season-high 28 points.

The Warriors appeared to be taking control when they stretched their lead to 11 points in the third quarter. But it did not last long, as Curry struggled through his worst-shooting night of the season.

The player, who had gone 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," said Curry.

However, he did make six of 13 three-point attempts and all 14 of his foul shots en route to 38 points.

"But we got stops, everybody contributed... considering all the injuries we had and this being the end of the road trip - huge win for us."

Draymond Green had 24 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and a season-high five blocks for the Warriors. Iguodala scored nine of his 13 points in the two overtimes.

Green said: "The same old same old, which has made us who we are."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on December 13, 2015, with the headline Warriors close in on perfect 7-0 road trip. Subscribe