BOSTON (AP) – Baron Davis scored 31 points and Mickael Pietrus added 16 to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 96-95 win over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.

Davis was 11-of-16 from the floor and scored nine key fourth-quarter points to help the Warriors snap an eight-game road losing streak and win for only the second time on the road this season. Andris Biedrins had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Paul Pierce scored 27 points, and Tony Allen added 17 for the Celtics, whose five-game winning streak came to an end. Pierce was held to two in the fourth and failed to get off a potential winning shot in the closing seconds.

Golden State scored 21 points off 17 Boston turnovers in the first half and used a second-quarter spurt to build a 58-48 halftime lead it would never relinquish. After blowing an eight-point fourth-quarter lead Monday night in a 105-97 loss in New Jersey, Golden State survived a late Boston push to improve to 1-3 on its season-high six-game trip.

Golden State scored the first four points of the third quarter to extend its lead to 62-48 before Boston climbed back and pulled to 76-71 to start the fourth quarter.

Boston climbed within a point three times, but Davis twice responded with two points and the third time the Warriors collapsed on Pierce in the key to force a jump ball with 0.6 seconds left.

Delonte West scored the first four points of the fourth to make it 76-75, but Davis responded with a pair of free throws and Pietrus followed with a long jumper to start a 9-3 run. Boston cut it to 94-93 when a West 3-pointer capped a 7-0 run, but Davis hit an off-balance fadeaway from the baseline with 1:06 remaining to up Golden State’s lead.

Al Jefferson once again closed the margin to a point at 96-95 with 48.1 seconds, but Boston never got off another shot after Jason Richardson missed a 3-pointer with 23.9 seconds left.

Notes: Boston forward Ryan Gomes returned to the lineup after missing two games because of a calf injury. … Boston forward Wally Szczerbiak sat out with a sprained right ankle. Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Szczerbiak could return as soon as next week. … The Warriors outscored the Celtics 50-36 in the paint. … Golden State forward Ike Diogu scored seven straight points midway through the second quarter. He finished with nine.

AP-ES-12-20-06 2228EST


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