Celtics at Warriors
Things aren't going perfectly smooth on the West Coast for the Boston Celtics, and the road is about to get even more difficult when they visit the NBA-best Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. The Celtics lost on a buzzer-beater in Phoenix on Sunday before letting a 13-point, third quarter lead slip away in a 116-102 setback at the Los Angeles Clippers that left star point guard Isaiah Thomas frustrated.
"We should have won this game," Thomas told reporters after Monday's loss. "We should have won last night. We can't be experimenting in Game (64). ... We have to figure it out. We will. We can't panic, but tonight hurt. It hurt me. I know that." Boston failed to take advantage of back-to-back losses by the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and sits three games behind the top spot with the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors close behind. The Warriors are still figuring things out with Kevin Durant (knee) out of the lineup but are at least back in the win column after finishing up a road trip with wins over the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks. “With the weapons we have, even with a guy down, we’re still capable of doing some good things,” Andre Iguodala told reporters after scoring 24 points off the bench in Monday's 119-111 win over Atlanta. “We just have to pay attention to the details.”
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, CSN New England (Boston), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE CELTICS (40-24): Thomas believes Boston has a team that can go deep into the postseason and was not happy about sitting on the bench as the lead slipped away late in the third quarter and early in the fourth before going back in when the team was trailing on Monday. "It's just the way we lost tonight was unacceptable," Thomas told reporters. "We lost the game in the last 15 minutes of the game. We played a really good game up until the last 15 minutes. And that's the players' fault, the coaches' fault, that's everybody in this locker room's fault. We could have done a lot better." Thomas averaged 33.5 points in the last two games but could not pull the Celtics into the win column.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (52-11): Iguodala figured to see his role increase when Durant went down, and he is averaging 30.8 minutes in the last four games after logging 35 in Atlanta and finishing with five rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block in addition to his 24 points. "Today, I felt pretty good,” Iguodala told reporters after the game. “I’ve been feeling good this whole road trip. Honestly, the whole year." Iguodala led a 55-point effort from the bench as David West and Ian Clark (10 points apiece) each reached double figures as well.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Celtics C Al Horford (elbow) missed the last two games but is expected back on Wednesday.
2. Warriors SG Klay Thompson is 13-of-50 from 3-point range over the last five games.
3. Boston handed Golden State one of its two home losses last season, 109-106 on April 1.