Road success and Curry injury
The Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics each proved to be rude guests in their two regular-season meetings this season.
In December, the Warriors rolled into TD Garden and won 111-107, a third straight victory that pushed their NBA-best record to 24-5.
Almost exactly three months later, the Celtics returned the favor, winning 110-88 at Chase Center. But the bigger loss that night for Golden State involved Stephen Curry, who suffered a sprained ligament in his foot and a bone bruise when Boston’s Marcus Smart fell on his lower leg while diving for a loose ball in the second quarter.
“We’re hoping he’s back for the playoffs and maybe even back for a couple of games before the playoffs,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr when the severity of Curry’s injury was disclosed.
Curry didn’t play again in the regular season as the Warriors — beginning with that loss to Boston — dropped seven of their next eight without the two-time MVP.
Warriors 111, Celtics 107 (Dec. 17, TD Garden) —
Fueled by Andrew Wiggins’ spectacular first half, the Warriors hung back-to-back 34point quarters on the Celtics to take a 14-point lead at halftime. Wiggins scored 24 of his 27 points in the half, including a single-quarter career-high 18 in the second.
The pendulum swung in the third quarter as the Warriors made only 4 of 19 shots from the field and scored 14 points, allowing the Celtics to cut their deficit to one (82-81) entering the final quarter.
Boston took the lead on a Jayson Tatum 3-pointer — the first basket of the fourth quarter — but the advantage was short-lived. Andre Iguodala tied it with two of his seasonhigh-tying 12 points and Damion Lee’s 3-pointer put the Warriors ahead for good. The
Celtics led for a total of 51 seconds.
Two days after breaking the NBA career 3-pointers record in New York, Curry scored 30 points before fouling out.
Celtics 110, Warriors 88 (March 16, Chase Center) —
Even without the Curry injury, this would — save for the third quarter — go down as one of the Warriors’ most forgettable games of the season.
Golden State was already without Wiggins (illness), Nemanja Bjelica (illness) and Gary Payton II (knee soreness), then lost rookie Moses Moody to a shoulder injury in the first quarter.
On top of all of that — and with Draymond Green coming off the bench in his second game since missing two months with a back injury — the Warriors’ offense was AWOL. Golden State failed to score 20 points in three of the four quarters, a 37-point third quarter being the exception.
Boston got 26 points apiece from Tatum and Jaylen Brown and 20 from Smart.
Jordan Poole’s 29 led the Warriors and Klay Thompson added 18. In a microcosm of the Warriors’ night, though, Thompson missed 16 of his 24 field-goal attempts and was 1-for-11 from distance.