OAKLAND, Calif. -- From the Celtics' Big Three to the last
three fans in the standing-room-only crowd, everybody knows what's
coming when the Golden State Warriors need a last-second basket.
Baron Davis keeps delivering anyway -- and his latest theatrics
brought down the curtain on the NBA leaders.
Davis hit a 20-foot jumper with 0.3 seconds to play, and the
Warriors beat Boston 119-117 on Wednesday night to send the Celtics
to their second straight loss since Garnett's return.
Monta Ellis scored 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter
before Davis capped his 29-point performance with the latest
heroics for the player who specializes in putting smooth finishes
on the Warriors' craziest wins. Al Harrington added 22 points and
12 rebounds for the Warriors, who have won 13 of their last 18
games.
"I was shooting that one," Davis said. "That was going up. I
knew where I needed to get to on the floor, and the nice mid-range
jumper, that's what I needed."
Paul Pierce scored seven of his 23 points in the final 1:38 to
rally Boston, including two tying free throws with 6.5 seconds
left. After a timeout, Davis dribbled casually to the right side of
the key and drained a fallaway jump shot over Tony Allen, blowing
the collective mind of the sellout crowd at Oracle Arena.
"It's a great feeling, especially when he makes the shot,"
Harrington said. "We have ultimate confidence in him, and
everybody does what they have to do to get the ball to him so he
can do his thing."
Golden State coach Don Nelson put Davis in position to score by
sending his teammates far enough away from him to discourage a
double-team. Boston coach Doc Rivers elected to go one-on-one
against one of the NBA's gutsiest shooters, feeling Allen was tall
enough to bother Davis.
"I would take Tony guarding him all day," Rivers said. "I
just thought, 'Guard him one-on-one and see what happens.' You know
Tony is our best defender, and Baron had to take a tough fadeaway
jump shot."
Ray Allen hit six 3-pointers while scoring 32 points for the
Celtics, and Garnett had 17 points and 15 rebounds while playing 31
minutes in his return from a strained abdominal muscle. Though
Boston's 41-11 record still is the league's best, the Celtics have
lost on the first two stops of their five-game West Coast road trip
after falling at Denver on Tuesday.
"You've just got to learn from it and understand what we're
doing wrong and clean it up," Pierce said. "We still have three
more games on this Western Conference trip. We had our chances
tonight, but the Golden State Warriors, they really pressed the
issue and were the aggressor tonight. It paid off for them in the
end."
Garnett, who had been out since Jan. 25, looked stronger in his
second game back. But he scored just six points in the fourth
quarter and went without a field goal in the final 8 minutes, while
Allen managed just five points in the fourth -- none in the final
6:15.
"The more I play, the better," Garnett said. "I'm sure Doc is
being a little cautious. I think the better I get into a flow, the
more my minutes go up."
Andris Biedrins had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors,
who played without Stephen Jackson for the first time since his
season-opening seven-game suspension. Jackson, their second-leading
scorer, sprained his left ankle in Golden State's loss at Utah on
Tuesday night.
Golden State had a small lead through most of the final minutes
of regulation, but Pierce kept the Celtics close. The Warriors
wasted a chance to run down the clock moments earlier when Matt
Barnes inexplicably attempted an awkward layup around four Celtics
with 14 seconds left -- and 10 seconds on the shot clock.
Boston held the NBA's highest-scoring team to its lowest output
of the season in the clubs' first meeting this season, a 104-82 win
for the Celtics in November. Golden State had that many points
after three quarters in the rematch, and the Warriors won with a
37-point fourth quarter.
Jackson averages a career-best 20.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2
assists, but the swingman got hurt in the third quarter against
Utah. Mickael Pietrus had 12 points in Jackson's place in the
starting lineup, sharing minutes with Harrington.
Game notes
The Warriors' crowd of 20,711 was the largest in franchise
history and the largest to watch a basketball game in the state of
California, the team claimed. Golden State has sold out 19 of its
27 home games. ... Celtics F Leon Powe, an Oakland native who
played at Cal, had three points and four fouls in 14 minutes. ...
Golden State reportedly was among the suitors for Garnett when
Minnesota put him on the market last summer, but the Warriors'
biggest acquisition at the position is Chris Webber, who had five
points and four rebounds.