Warriors win possible NBA Finals preview with Celtics

OAKLAND - The Warriors took over when they needed to and the Boston Celtics couldn’t.

More specifically, Stephen Curry took over when he needed to and Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving couldn’t. Curry scored 49 points Saturday night, including 13 of the Warriors’ final 14 points in crunch time, and the Warriors won 109 to 105.

The Celtics have the best record in the Eastern Conference. They’re a good team. But the Warriors are a championship team. And they showed their championship pedigree Saturday.

With 2:40 left in the game, the Celtics were ahead by one when Celtics center Al Horford fouled Warriors forward Kevin Durant. Durant missed the first free throw but made the second to tie the game at 95.

During the next sequence, Horford got the ball near the rim, backed down Durant and tried to flip a hook shot over him.

Durant blocked the shot.

“I was kicking myself for missing that free throw,” said Durant, who finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. “Horford dug me in pretty hard there in the middle of the paint, so I just tried to contest his shot.

“But I don’t know if that was a key sequence in the game. Steph made some huge plays to take us over the top.”

Curry made a 28-foot 3-pointer, a layup and eight free throws after Durant’s block.

“We rely on our offensive movement,” Curry said, “but our bread and butter is the high pick-and-roll. The way that they were defending that, if I could set up the guy coming off the screen and get some separation, I could get a shot off. Sometimes it’s nice not to try to be too cute on offense and stick with that bread-and-butter play.”

With 2.9 seconds left in the game, the Celtics were down by two. Irving tried to intentionally brick a free throw off the rim so the Celtics could grab the rebound and tie the game or take the lead. Irving air balled. Game over.

The Warriors’ record now is 40-10.

“You have to play a solid game to beat (the Celtics),” Curry said. “You know you can’t just show up and win. That’s great preparation for us as we try to build those habits and playoff mentality toward the end of the season. Coach talked about it before the game. This was a big game. If we showed up and played a mediocre game, we were going to get exposed and we were going to get beat.”

The Celtics had won three of their past four games against the Warriors coming into Saturday night. Before the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr discussed why the Warriors have struggled against the Celtics the past few years.

“They’ve generally had very good guard play at the defensive end,” Kerr said, “They’ve had a lot of guys who are really good in terms of pressuring the ball, getting into the ball.”

Against the Warriors, the Celtics were missing one of their best defenders, backup point guard Marcus Smart. Smart averages 30.3 minutes, 10.1 points, 4.7 assists and 1.3 steals a game off the bench.

He cut his hand last Wednesday while hitting a picture frame on a wall at a hotel.

“Obviously, not having Smart affects them,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “He’s one of their top defenders. But I’ve never seen one guy lock Steph up. No disrespect to (Smart) - I just haven’t seen it. Maybe you have.”

Curry made five of his first nine shots and scored 13 points in the first quarter. But the rest of his teammates struggled. No one else on the Warriors scored more than five points in the first quarter. Klay Thompson scored only two points in the first quarter and finished the game with just seven points.

The Celtics did not struggle early. Irving made his first seven shots and shooting guard Jaylen Brown made his first four. Collectively, the Celtics shot 61.9 percent from the field while the Warriors shot just 44 percent in the first quarter.

When the second quarter began, the Warriors trailed 37-27.

The Warriors immediately went on a 10-0 run. Durant made a running floater in the lane. Power forward David West made a layup. Thompson dunked. Point guard Shaun Livingston hit a jumper. And West made another layup.

The game was tied at 37 with 8:47 left in the second quarter.

Then the Celtics showed why they’re the best defensive team in the NBA. They gave up only four field goals the rest of the second quarter. And at halftime, they led 54-50.

Then Curry caught fire. He scored 18 points in the third quarter, made seven of 10 shots from the field and four of four shots from behind the 3-point line. The Warriors outscored the Celtics 30-19 in the third and led 80-73 when it ended.

Then Irving got hot. He had been ice cold since scoring 19 points in the first 19 minutes of the game. He finished the game with 37 points. And with less than 6 minutes left, he hit a 26-foot 3-pointer, two free throws and a 5-foot bank shot and gave the Celtics a 93-92 lead.

A few minutes later, the?Warriors and Celtics were tied at 95.

Then Durant blocked Horford’s shot.

And then, Curry took over.