BOSTON — Golden State didn’t need another winning, last-second basket this time.
The Warriors led by at least 20 points throughout the second half Wednesday night and beat the Boston Celtics 108-88, showing no letdown one day after edging the Indiana Pacers on a field goal with 0.6 seconds left.
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Klay Thompson hit that 12-foot turnaround to beat one of the NBA’s best teams, 98-96. Against one of the worst, Thompson and David Lee scored 18 points each as the Warriors ended their trip with a 4-2 record.
“This win validates (Tuesday) night,” Thompson said.
The Warriors were determined not to ease up against much weaker competition than they faced at Indiana, which has the league’s best home record.
“It was big for us,” Lee said. “The starters really wanted to come out and set the tone tonight and not give the Celtics team any life.”
That plan worked.
The Warriors scored the first six points and led 12-2 with just over five minutes gone as they moved a season-high 14 games over .500 with a 38-24 record.
“I read where if we lost this game then that takes away (Tuesday’s win). You cannot forget how tough it is to win games in this league,” Golden State Coach Mark Jackson said. “Fortunately we did not fall in love with what we did in Indy.”
The Celtics (20-41) provided little resistance and lost for the seventh time in eight games.
“It was a struggle for us,” Boston Coach Brad Stevens said. “I’d like to find something that I could say we were better in, but there wasn’t anything.”
A former Celtic, Jordan Crawford, had 15 points and Stephen Curry added 14 for the Warriors, who won for the seventh time in nine games.
Kelly Olynyk scored 19 points for Boston.
“We don’t want to keep embarrassing ourselves and that is the mentality we are going to have,” Jeff Green of Boston said.
Lee started the scoring with an 18-footer and Andre Iguodala followed with a layup and a dunk for a 6-0 lead. Jerryd Bayless then hit a fadeaway jumper for Boston, but Golden State got the next six points on dunks by Curry and Thompson, and a layup by Lee.
The game was still competitive when Bayless’ two free throws cut Golden State’s lead to 42-33 with 5:55 left in the first half. Then Thompson’s 3-pointer began a 19-7 run that gave the Warriors a 61-40 lead at halftime.
Baskets by Lee and Andrew Bogut made it 49-33 before Rajon Rondo sank a free throw and Jared Sullinger made two for Boston. But then Golden State scored the next six points.
A 3-pointer by Green cut the margin to 55-38, but Curry followed with a three-point play. Rondo answered with a layup before Iguodala finished the first-half scoring with a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining.
The sloppy Celtics committed 12 turnovers in the first half, leading to 15 points, while the Warriors turned the ball over just twice, leading to two points.
“What hurt us more than maybe anything were the turnovers in the first half that led to the dunks that got those guys going,” Stevens said.
“I didn’t think our effort was great.”
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