BOSTON — The Warriors’ historic season-opening winning streak was on life support, but Stephen Curry came to the rescue.
Curry racked up 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as the Warriors escaped Boston with a classic 124-119 double overtime win Friday night to improve their record to 24-0.
The Warriors won despite missing starters Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes, who were both nursing sprained ankles. They won despite Curry committing a season-high eight turnovers as he found little room to operate without Thompson on the court.
Draymond Green stepped forward with 24 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and five blocks, playing a career-high 50 minutes and with five fouls during the overtime periods.
Andre Iguodala scored nine of his 13 points in the two overtime periods, including the go-ahead put-back layup.
The Warriors’ streak of 28 straight regular-season wins dating back to last season became the second longest in league history.
Kelly Olynyk came off the bench to score 28 points for the Celtics. But with a shot to close out the Warriors while leading by five points with less than two minutes left in regulation, Boston couldn’t capitalize as Curry hit his sixth 3-pointer with 46.8 seconds left to cap a 7-0 run.
Thomas tied the score at 103 with a layup, but he was blocked by Shaun Livingston with a shot to win the game. The Celtics point guard also missed a potential game-winning jump shot in the first overtime, as the score was left tied at 110.
Pelicans 107, Wizards 105
NEW ORLEANS — Guard Tyreke Evans scored 27 points and forward Anthony Davis added 18 points and 11 rebounds as the New Orleans Pelicans made a franchise-record 16 3-pointers to defeat the Washington Wizards 107-105 Friday night at the Smoothie King Center.
The Pelicans (6-16) made 16 of 27 from behind the arc (59.3 percent), and they needed every one to overcome guard John Wall’s 26 points and 12 assists.
Davis’ free throw with 1:47 left gave the Pelicans a 104-103 lead, and New Orleans had a chance to extend the lead, but Evans missed a driving layup with 32 seconds left.
Wall tried to regain the lead for Washington, but his 17-foot jumper over Alonzo Gee failed to go, and guard Eric Gordon was fouled on the rebound and made two free throws to build New Orleans’ lead to 106-103 with 18.1 seconds left.
Wall made it 106-105 at 10.9 with a layup off an inbounds pass. On New Orleans’ next possession, guard Jrue Holiday was tied up for a jump ball but won the tip against forward Jared Dudley.
Evans made only one of two foul shots, and New Orleans led 107-105 with 4.7 seconds left. Washington had one last possession in the New Orleans end, but Gary Neal missed an open 18-foot jumper at the buzzer, and the Wizards fell to (9-12).
The Pelicans trailed 86-77 with 10 minutes left, but Evans connected on consecutive 3-pointers to cut the Washington lead to 87-85 with 8:56 left.
Wall hit a 3-pointer from the left wing and then fed forward DeJuan Blair for an easy layup to extend the Wizards lead to 97-90.
The Pelicans continued to rain 3-pointers, and Davis’ jumper from the top of the key tied the game at with 2:00 left. It was New Orleans franchise-record 16th 3-pointer (in 26 attempts).
Both teams came out ice cold in the third quarter, combining to miss 11 of 13 shots. Even though the Pelicans took a 70-66 lead on forward Dante Cunningham’s 3-pointer from the right wing, the Wizards closed out the quarter with an 11-7 run to tie the game at 77 after three periods.
After going scoreless, missing all five shots and committing five turnovers in a 111-93 home loss to Boston on Monday night, Evans came out blazing, scoring 15 first-half points as New Orleans took a 55-54 lead at halftime.