First-place Celtics riding 11-game winning streak

BOSTON (AP) — Steve Kerr spoiled the Boston Celtics’ last, best chance at another NBA title. And he thinks it would be harder this time around.

“This is, I think, the best version of this team that I’ve seen,” Kerr said this weekend before his Golden State Warriors were ambushed by their 2022 NBA Finals opponent 140-88 on Sunday.

“The idea is to give yourself a chance as many times in a row as you can. And they’ve done a great job of that,” Kerr said. “I think it’s just a matter of time that they break through.”

The Celtics won their 11th straight game on Sunday to improve to an NBA-best 4812 on the season — six wins more than their closest pursuer. They are on pace for 65 wins, which would be the fourth-most in franchise history and the most since the 2008 team won a 17th NBA championship.

The 52-point win over the longtime Western Conference power was the third-largest margin of victory in Celtics history. They are the first NBA team to record three 50-point wins in a season.

Boston led by 44 points at halftime, a franchise record. Boston’s only bigger blowout wins were by 56 points at Chicago in 2018, and by 53 against Sacramento in 2022.

“There’s a lot of respect for the Golden State Warriors,” said Jaylen Brown, who scored 29 points. “But we feel like it’s our time now.”

Jayson Tatum had 27 points and Payton Pritchard added 19 for the Celtics on Sunday, when coach Joe Mazzulla emptied the bench with 7:16 left in the third quarter.

Warriors star Stephen Curry didn’t play at all in the second half, finishing with a season-low four points — his fewest since leaving a 2022 game at Boston with a foot injury. Curry was 2 of 13 from the field on Sunday and missed all nine of his 3-point attempts.