The Golden State Warriors handed the Boston Celtics their second loss of the season on Wednesday with a thrilling 118-112 victory on the road.
The Warriors led comfortably at the half, but the Celtics used a dominant 41-point third quarter behind Jayson Tatum’s 17 points to storm back and make things tight heading into the fourth.
It was about as exciting of a final quarter as fans could ask for with the two teams trading leads back and forth.
With a five-point lead with less than 20 seconds to go, the Warriors fouled Payton Pritchard on a three-point attempt and he made all three to cut the lead down to two. The Celtics intentionally fouled Draymond Green and he made both before a missed three at the other end from Tatum sealed the win for Golden State.
Steph Curry led the way for the Warriors with 27 points, nine assists and seven rebounds while Andrew Wiggins had 16 while playing solid defense on Tatum. Golden State had three members of the bench in double figures, including Buddy Hield, who hit a clutch three with less than a minute left to make it a seven-point game.
After the win, fans hyped the Warriors’ title chances as they continued their strong start to the year.
The Warriors still have a long season ahead of them, but a 7-1 start that includes a win over the defending champs on their home floor is a great place to start. Golden State has the chance to prove itself even more in the coming days as it faces the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday and the also unbeaten Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.