Warriors rally from 26-point deficit to beat Celtics

BOSTON — Draymond Green said that when the Warriors fell behind by 26 points, he laughed in the face of the predicament and reminded his teammates there was plenty of time left.

“And we believed,” Green said before explaining why.

“We know how good we are.”

The Warriors ultimately turned the tide to beat Boston 106-101 on Sunday, tying for the largest comeback win in the NBA this season.

While chipping away at the lead, there were signs that the Warriors were confident they would get it done.

Stephen Curry punched his fist in the air and later flexed his muscles, finishing with a game-high 37 points. Green took some big footsteps as if to say, “The Warriors are coming,” as he racked up 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Green scored on a tip-in to give the Warriors a 96-94 lead, and then Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala made baskets in the final 90 seconds to help them hang on against the Celtics.

The Warriors danced in their towels in the locker room after improving to 46-11 and winning consecutive games for the first time since the All-Star break.

“The way they came out at us, to be resilient, fight back like that, it’s a huge win,” Green said.

James Young, Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko came off the bench to hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Celtics a 56-30 lead with 6:53 left in the second quarter.

But before the half was over, the Warriors had cut the deficit to 15 with a 3-pointer from Curry, who finished with five of them on a night when he was 14 for 22 from the field.

The key to the turnaround was coach Steve Kerr going to his small lineup, as the Warriors surged while Andrew Bogut did not play in the second and fourth quarters.

Playing center was the 6-foot-7 Green, who blocked three shots as the Warriors began to get stops and held the Celtics to 36 second-half points.

A Curry 3-pointer capped a 9-0 run in the third to cut the Boston lead to nine. In the fourth, he dished off to Iguodala for a dunk to tie the score at 94.

“I don’t know out of 100 times if you replayed that how many times would we win?” Iguodala said. “Once or twice, maybe?”

The Warriors’ defense had been so lacking that the Celtics scored 38 first-quarter points and committed only one turnover in the first half. All five Celtics starters scored in double figures, and Isaiah Thomas came off the bench to lead the way with 20 points.

“This is what happens in the league,” said Kerr, who Green said ripped the players and challenged them at halftime. “Tons of games lately, tons of travel, we just weren’t quite ready.”

Kerr ended up praising the team’s poise under duress. Klay Thompson scored 20 points, and Barnes added 17, including the go-ahead basket to make it 100-99 with 1:26 left.

Thomas missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left, and Curry sealed the win with two free throws.

“We don’t look over teams,” Curry said of facing the Celtics, who fell to 23-34 but are fighting for an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Said Green: “We know we can score in bunches, and we know we’re capable of putting 10 stops together in a row. With those ingredients, we’re never out of a game.”