by Jerry Feitelberg

Boston-The Golden State Warriors beat the Celtics Friday night by a score of 104-88. The Warriors, keeping in mind the tough time they had last year beating the Celtics in double overtime, won the game in the third quarter as the outscored the Celts 31-9 to put the game out of reach.

The first quarter was close. The biggest lead the Dubs owned was 25-16. The Celtics went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 27. James Michael McAdoo made a two-point bucket at the end of the quarter to give the Dubs the lead 29-27. The Warriors, behind the stellar play of Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, increased the lead to eight 55-48 at the half. The Warriors played solid defense holding the Celtics to just twenty-one points in the second quarter. Draymond Green, Zazu Pachulia, and Andre Iguodala all did their jobs. Pachulia rebounded, Green rebounded, made assists, blocked shots and Andre Iguodala was terrific off the bench.

The third quarter belonged to Golden State. The Warriors went on a 24-3 run to start the third quarter.Klay was hot, and Green made two three-point shots early in the quarter. The Warriors held theCeltics to just nine points. It was the fewest points allowed in any quarter this season. The quarter ended with the Dubs ahead by twenty-nine 86-57. The Dubs went to sleep in the final period of the game. The Celtics outscored the Warriors 30-13 at one point to close the gap to eleven 99-88 but Steph Curry hit a three then a layup to put the game out of reach.

Game Notes- Klay Thompson led the Dubs with 28 points. Kevin Durant had a double-double. He was second in scoring with 23 and he pulled dow 10 boards and had 7 assists. Steph Curry didn’t score a lot. He had sixteen but had seven assists. Draymond contributed 11 points, eight assists ,and eight rebounds. Zaza Pachulia had 12 rebounds.The Dubs had ten steals and seven blocked shots as the defense was superb. They shot 48.9% from the floor and had thirty-three assists in the contest. It was the sixth straight game the Dubs had 30 or more assists and the eighth time this seasonIsiah Thomas had 18 for Boston. Avery Bradley chipped in with 17 and rookie Jaylen Brown had 11 as did Terry Rozier.

After the game, Durant said this about his teammates”they help me out a lot”. He also remarked this about his performance Friday night” I just want to contribute the best way I can.” He commented that”the defense was great.” Klay Thompson also said,”we just played great defense.” CVoach Steve Kerr said:”when we went to the smaller lineup,[there was]lots of switching, getting our hands up”. Kerr observed that the “guys are getting more comfortable with each other.” There was one downside as Kerr had this to say about the team’s performance:”we still haven’t put four quarters together but we are playing longer stretches of good basketball.”

The Warriors face the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday night in Milwaukee. Last year, the Buck ended the Dubs twenty-four game winning streak the night after the Warriors beat the Celtics. The Warriors do not want to have history repeat. Game time ia at 5:30 PM.