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Fourth-quarter run lifts Warriors over Celtics

Dec 27, 2008 - 8:09 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- The Boston Celtics have their first losing streak.

Stephen Jackson scored 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter as the Golden State Warriors claimed an improbable, 99-89, victory over the Celtics on Friday.

Paul Pierce scored 21 points for Boston but 13 of those were in the first quarter.

"We played hard and we found a way to get it done against a great team," Jackson said. "We just fought the whole game. And it shows when we play hard and stay together, good things will happen."

The Celtics had their franchise-record, 19-game winning streak snapped by the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas while Golden State had two days off after completing a 1-4 East Coast trip.

"We just lost the lead with our bench," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "Whenever we took Kevin (Garnett) off the floor, when you have to, we've been pretty good doing that all year and we're not going to worry about it. We'll play another game and we'll be OK.

"There's nothing you can do about it, we didn't play well and we had our opportunities."

Second-year guard Marco Belinelli added 22 points for the Warriors, marking the ninth time in the past 11 games he had scored 10 or more points.

"I think we played probably the best team in the league and after five or six losses on the road, it was very important," Belinelli said. "For our confidence, it's very important to win against Boston."

Kelenna Azubuike fed Ronny Turiaf for an emphatic two-handed jam to open the fourth quarter as the Warriors got within 72-66. The dunk sparked a 23-6 surge.

The Warriors took their first lead since the opening quarter when Jackson hit a 12-footer with 6:03 remaining and capped the spurt with three free throws to push the lead to 87-78 with 4:22 to play.

"Everybody was aggressive and everybody wants to win the game," Belinelli said. "We played great defense in the last three to four minutes. We got rebounds, running (the floor) and Jackson started to score."

Everything was going wrong for Boston, which had not scored in nearly three minutes. Ray Allen, who finished with seven points, fouled out with 4:22 left.

"I can't say we played bad but in three games that we have lost, there has been a point in the fourth quarter where we couldn't get shots," Allen said. "We could all say we put this one on our backs and do a better job. We have been in this situation time and time again, we just have to think how we can improve for the future."

Garnett made a jumper in the paint and was fouled, ending the Celtics' scoring drought at 4:09. Rajon Rondo quickly scored again with a reverse layup to cut the Warriors' lead to 87-83.

Turiaf made a pair of free throws to push it back to 89-83, and Pierce converted only one foul shot with 2:11 remaining - his first point in the quarter.

C.J. Watson scored on back-to-back possessions and Jackson and Turiaf combined to convert 6-of-6 free throws over the final 36 seconds to seal the win.

"I felt pretty good this morning," said Turiaf, who made all 10 of his foul shots. "I was telling Jamal (Crawford) this morning that if I get to the free-throw line I'm not going to miss it And it was just one of those days where I felt like I couldn't miss."