The Boston Celtics open road trip with 132-126 overtime loss to Golden State Warriors

It looked like the Celtics had complete control of the first game of their west coast road trip.

Then, they were outscored by 11 points in the fourth quarter, by 6 in overtime, and ultimately fell to the Golden State Warriors, 132-126.

It was another loss that came down to stagnant crunch-time offense. With 2:34 seconds left in regulation, Jrue Holiday (13 points, 7 rebounds) drew a foul on rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis, and hit two free throws to take a three-point Celtics lead.

Then came the three-point barrage. Klay Thompson (24 points) hit a three to tie it up, and Derrick White responded from beyond the arc. Steph Curry, who finished with 33 points on 11-21 shooting, hit a three of his own to tie things up at 121.

The Celtics then missed a whopping five go-ahead field goal attempts, continued to crash the offensive glass, but couldn’t get anything to go. In that stretch, White missed two three-pointers, Jayson Tatum missed one, Jaylen Brown missed a finger roll layup, and Al Horford lost control of the tip-in.

After Curry missed a go-ahead shot, the Cs had a chance to win at the buzzer, but Tatum missed a a highly-contested game-winning three-pointer.

In overtime, it was all Golden State. The Celtics hit just two field goals (a Brown layup and a Horford three) and were outscored by Curry himself 7-5 in the period.

A strong three quarters culminate in a loss

The Celtics got out to a hot start and led 40-30 after the first period. Jaylen Brown led the way with 12 first-quarter points, and Derrick White started the game 3-3 from three. Brown finished the game with 28 points on 10-22 shooting, while White scored 30 points on 11-24 field goal attempts.

Jayson Tatum turned his ankle and hobbled to the locker room in the first quarter. While he returned to start the second period, he seemed a bit slow and hesitant to attack for much of the night. Tatum finished the game with a season-low 15 points, shooting just 5-17 from the field.

In his absence, Oshae Brissett provided a spark off the bench in the opening period, scoring six quick points.

In the second quarter, the Warriors made up for a 10-point first quarter deficit with a 15-2 run, but the Celtics were able to regain the lead and led 65-62 heading into halftime.

The Celtics took control of the game in the third quarter, pushing the lead to as much as 17. Steph Curry picked up his fifth foul midway through the period on a Brown and-one drive, and sat out for the remainder of the quarter. White contributed 11 points in the frame, and Brown added 9, making a concerted effort to push the pace.

The tides turned in the fourth quarter, where the Warriors outscored the Celtics 34-25, thanks to some vintage shotmaking from Curry and Thompson.

The Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis, who was out managing a left calf strain, presumably to rest on the front-end of the team’s back-to-back. Luke Kornet, out with an adductor strain, missed his third consecutive game. Neemias Queta gave the Celtics 21 solid minutes, and ended up finishing with a 10 point, 10 rebound double-double.

With the loss, the Celtics fall to 20-6 on the season and 6-6 on the road. They’re now also 6-5 in games played without Porzingis.

They’ll continue their four-game road trip continues tomorrow against the Sacramento Kings at 10pm ET.