Celtics take down Warriors as Tatum, Curry star in scoring showdown

April 19 ------ Jayson Tatum and Stephen Curry both came out firing, but the Boston Celtics won their battle with the Golden State Warriors, outfinishing the visitors for a thrilling 119-114 win in a nationally televised duel of streaking teams.

Tatum scored a driving hoop to break a tie with 48.8 seconds left, and Kemba Walker delivered the dagger with a three-pointer 24 seconds later, allowing the Celtics to record their sixth straight win (31-26) on Saturday night, April 17 (Sunday, April 18, Manila time), Tatum finished with a team-high 44 points, three fewer than Curry, who continued his week-long assault on the three-point line with 11 more. Curry, who turned his left ankle in the fourth quarter but never left the game, topped 47 points and surpassed 40 for the third time in four games in the last six days. He has also scored at least 30 in 10 straight games. Curry, the league leader in three-pointers, went 11-for-19 from beyond the arc, upping his total to 44 triples in five games – the most threes in a five-game span in league history.

Tatum shot 16-for-25 overall and 5-for-9 on threes en route to his second-highest point total of the season for the Celtics, who were coming off a 3-0 trip against Western heavyweights Denver, Portland, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Tatum also found time to complete a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds.

Walker finished with 26 points and Marcus Smart 16 for the Celtics. They combined for seven more three-pointers, helping the Celtics nearly keep pace with the Warriors from beyond the arc, making 15 in 46 tries as compared to Golden State's 17 in 40. Jabari Parker had 11 points off the bench in his Celtics debut and Peyton Pritchard matched that total for the Celtics, who swept the two-game season series from the Warriors despite sitting out Jaylen Brown. Andrew Wiggins had 22 points, Kent Bazemore 16, and Jordan Poole 12 for the Warriors, who saw a four-game winning streak come to an end. Draymond Green, who missed two key interior shots late in the tight game, accumulated a game-high 10 assists to go with 5 points and 5 rebounds. The Warriors not only outscored the Celtics 51-45 on three-pointers but also outshot them overall, 51.3% to 46.8%.

Source: rappler.com