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Warriors hold on late to beat Celtics, pick up 10th straight win

Ryan Young
Staff writer

It came down to the wire, but Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors edged out a win at TD Garden on Saturday night.

In a game that had 21 lead changes and 14 ties, the Warriors survived a thrilling finish to beat the Boston Celtics 115-111, snapping their five game winning streak.

The game was all tied up 108-108 with 2:30 left on Saturday, before Klay Thompson drilled a wide open 3-pointer to give the Warriors some room to work with. Yet with just more than a minute left, Marcus Smart drained a heavily contested 3-pointer to retie the game.

A pair of Thompson free throws put the Warriors ahead, however, a costly turnover by Draymond Green gave the Celtics one last chance with less than 20 seconds left.

Marcus Morris then had a solid look at a 3-pointer to give the Celtics the win, but it didn’t fall. Thanks to a pair of free throws from Stephen Curry late, the Warriors survived to grab the 115-111 win.

Durant led the Warriors with 33 points and nine rebounds, shooting 10-of-23 from the field. Curry finished with 24 points, shooting 6-of-12 from the 3-point line, and Thompson finished with 21 points.

Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 32 points and 10 assists. Al Horford finished with a double-double, dropping 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Jayson Tatum added 20 points.

The Golden State Warriors held on in the final minutes on Saturday night to beat the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images)
The Golden State Warriors held on in the final minutes on Saturday night to beat the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images)

Steve Kerr grabs 300th win, fastest coach in history to do so

The win for the Warriors on Saturday marked their 10th straight win, and their ninth straight on the road.

The night was also a monumental one for Golden State coach Steve Kerr.

Kerr picked up his 300th career win at TD Garden. It only took him 377 games to accomplish that feat, too, which marks the fastest any coach in American sports history has done so.

Pat Riley was the next-fastest in NBA history to hit that mark, needing 416 games.

A true test for DeMarcus Cousins

Warriors big man DeMarcus Cousins played 23 minutes on Saturday night, marking one of his first true tests since he returned to the lineup earlier this month.

He was matched up against one of the best centers in the league, too, as he was tasked with shutting down Horford.

While Horford still got his double-double, Kerr said he knows it’s not going to be perfect. Having Cousins in the lineup adjusts how they run their entire defense, and it’s going to take time to get it right.

“It’s great for him to get this experience. We need to practice it,” Kerr said, via The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. “We play differently against pick and roll with DeMarcus than we do with our other guys. We change the scheme a little bit. It’s not just DeMarcus getting the reps. It’s all of our guys trying something different.”

Cousins finished the night with 15 points and eight rebounds, shooting 4-of-9 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line.

He also had five personal fouls, something that really limited his minutes.

Though Cousins is a “high foul guy,” Kerr said it’s still early. After missing as much time as Cousins did while recovering from an Achilles injury, he knows it’s going to take time to get back in the flow of things.

“This is like training camp for him,” Kerr said. “He’s been playing for a week, maybe nine days I think? So DeMarcus needs more reps, more conditioning and he’ll start playing more foul-free minutes.”

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