Stephen Curry and the Warriors are vulnerable, after all, as the soon-to-be MVP turned the ball over nine times and missed a last-second three to end their record 54-game home win streak.
The Boston Celtics losing road record this year includes the stunning upset Friday night to end Golden State’s 54-game home winning streak. The Warriors must now win five of their last six to break the Chicago Bulls 1996 record of 72-10. The Celtics are in a tight four-way race in the East that could have them finish anywhere between third and sixth place before the Celtics, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, and Charlotte Hornets play in some combination in two playoff series.
The Warriors will have the home advantage throughout the NBA playoffs. Publicly they hoped to finish the season undefeated at home to prevent playoff opponents from having any hope of winning at Golden State to take a series.
The Warriors pressured an inbound pass trailing 107-106 with 10 seconds to go, and Curry almost saved the day with a steal and clear path for a breakaway layup. However, the inbound pass scraped just over his hand to Isaiah Thomas who went to the hoop and made an acrobatic lay-up around and over Draymond Green to give Boston a 109-106 win.
The Warriors were able to get off two tough potential game-tying three-pointers in the final few seconds. Curry shot 8 for 13 on three-pointers up until that point, but the Celtics made him move his feet with two players flying by, and his shot rimmed out. However, the Warriors got the offensive rebound back to Harrison Barnes, who was 4 of 8 on three-pointers until then, but rushed a buzzer beater rather than see if he had time to pass the ball to Curry.
The Celtics played small, throwing off the Warriors seven-footer Andrew Bogut, who scored only four points and grabbed just four rebounds while the Celtics’ 6-foot-9 Jared Sullinger scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
ESPN calculated that the Warriors’ chance of breaking the Bulls record for wins in a season dropped from 80 percent to 51 percent with the loss.
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