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BOSTON — The Golden State Warriors will close out a five-game road trip this week against the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA’s three top teams through three weeks.
“We’ll know if they’re for real after that,” a Celtics executive conceded before the first of those games.
Consider the first test passed. Behind Stephen Curry’s excellence, a pair of Kevon Looney put-backs and a Buddy Hield dagger, the Warriors closed out a fourth quarter that featured four lead changes. The Warriors’ 118-112 victory improved their record to 7-1, half a game better than the defending champions.
“It’s a statement,” said Hield, whose wide-open 3-pointer on a feed from Curry gave Golden State a 111-104 advantage with 47.2 seconds remaining. “If we don’t win this game, everybody’s like, ‘Oh, they didn’t play nobody.’ So you’ve gotta come make a statement on the road, right? That’s how the basketball world talks. They say if you haven’t played nobody yet, you get battle-tested, and you have to see if it’s real.”
Much of the hype around Wednesday’s game pit Jayson Tatum opposite Steve Kerr, as if the Celtics star might send a message to the Warriors coach. Kerr benched Tatum for two games at the Paris Olympics. You would not have known it — at least after the TD Garden crowd booed Kerr’s pregame introduction.
“From the beginning, the whole thing was, ‘We’re in this together. We’ve got 12 Hall of Famers, and we’re committed to winning,’” said Kerr. “And we won the gold medal, so I don’t give it a whole lot of thought.”
Otherwise, the 2022 NBA finalists went to work in a brilliant basketball game. One point separated them to start the fourth quarter. Derrick White’s seventh 3 of the night gave the Celtics a 95-88 edge midway through the final frame, and then what Hield described as “championship habits” took over. The Warriors scored on their next seven possessions, including all 10 of Curry’s fourth-quarter points, to seal the deal.
“Normal Steph,” joked Looney.
It is too early — and maybe too far-fetched — to consider the Warriors a serious title contender again. Curry is 36 years old. Draymond Green is 34. Klay Thompson is gone, and in his place is a collection of talented players, none of whom is a future Hall of Famer, most of whom Kerr is still trying to sort out.
Even Curry is not shooting for his fifth championship at this moment. After failing to make the playoffs last season for the third time in five years, he and the Warriors are first in search of relevancy again.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” he said. “A good team, or a relevant team, wins the games they’re supposed to win, steals a couple on the road against good teams and protects home-court. We’ve done those things so far, but we have two more games on this road trip — two tough tests. …
“I like where we are, obviously, but a long way to go.”
What gave Curry pause in that response was Golden State’s deep rotation, something he described as uncomfortable. He does not know who will be contributing on a nightly basis; he just knows they have to.
“Until proven otherwise, that’s how we have to play,” said Curry. “Coach has talked about it until he’s blue in the face already. Every practice, every film session, every pregame talk, it’s the same message. It’s who we are right now; it’s who we have to be. You obviously know as the season goes on rotations get tighter.”
It is working, though, especially on defense. The Warriors held Boston to a season-low 40 first-half points, sending waves of defenders at the Celtics. Gary Payton II likened Kerr’s 11-man rotation to a line change in hockey. “A lot of fresh legs,” he said, most of which were directed at Tatum. The Celtics star saw two defenders for most of the night, finishing with 32 points but just two assists to four turnovers. It did not help that Boston was without his co-star, Jaylen Brown, whose hip injury has listed him as day-to-day.
“Obviously Boston was without Jaylen Brown and [Kristaps] Porzingis, so this is not the best version of their team,” conceded Kerr, “but they’re still damn good. It’s a hell of a win in a tough environment.”
Golden State’s defense is now rated second in the NBA behind the Thunder, allowing 103.5 points per 100 possessions. That recipe — stout defense, full of energy, surrounding one Stephen Curry — is one that should win a lot of regular-season games. It has won five straight. Cleveland and Oklahoma City await.
“It was a great test,” Curry said from Boston. “We haven’t done a damn thing, but it felt good.”
Boston Red Sox
No games have been played, but the Red Sox’s series against the New York Mets is already off to a rocky start.
That’s thanks to a series of travel issues that caused a 17-hour delay from the time Boston was supposed to depart Chicago to the time it actually took off. The Red Sox should have left Illinois at 9:45 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday night, landing in New York around midnight.
Instead, the team took off at approximately 3 p.m. ET on Friday. They’ll land around 5 p.m., making it to New York just barely in time for their 7:15 p.m. game against the Mets.
The Boston Globe‘s Tim Healey and Alex Speier reported the delay, and their sources didn’t give any specific reason for the issues, just that Boston “encountered multiple plane issues in trying to continue to New York.”
As of 4 p.m. ET, the Red Sox-Mets game will continue as scheduled at 7:15 p.m. Friday. Sonny Gray is set to take the bump for Boston, which enters Friday an undefeated 6-0 on its recent road trip.
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BOSTON (WHDH) – Police are investigating a shooting in Downtown Crossing that occurred Thursday night.
Officials said the shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. near Tremont and Temple Streets.
When officers arrived on scene, they found a man with a gunshot wound; he is expected to survive.
Police have not said if any arrests have been made.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Local News
An East Boston father is suing ICE, alleging immigration agents unlawfully stopped, arrested, and detained him because of his race and national origin despite having his legal status, his lawyers said.
Lawyers for Civil Rights filed the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Jose Pineda, a 62-year-old Salvadoran immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for more than three decades and is authorized to remain and work through humanitarian relief, the nonprofit legal organization said in a press release.
The suit is seeking damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, assault, and severe emotional distress.
“I came to the United States to escape the civil war that devastated El Salvador. I worked hard, started a family, and built a life here,” said Pineda, who works as a landscaper and lives with his wife and 13-year-old daughter. “I never expected to feel that kind of fear again, much less in the United States.”
According to the 30-page complaint, written by LCR senior attorneys Victoria Miranda and Mirian Albert, Pineda has been a recipient of Temporary Protected Status, which allows certain foreign nationals from designated countries to live and work legally in the U.S.
Pineda also had a pending asylum petition and had been granted a T visa, which provides immigration protections to trafficking victims, the complaint states.
“We will not stand idly by as ICE wreaks havoc on immigrant families. Through racial profiling, ICE agents are carrying out an unquestionably discriminatory agenda,” Miranda said in the release. “The law exists to protect people like Mr. Pineda, and it must be enforced against ICE.”
The lawsuit stems from a May 2025 encounter in Weymouth, where Pineda was driving a landscaping truck to a job site when agents in unmarked ICE vehicles surrounded him, according to the complaint.
“The aggressive nature of the questioning made it clear to Mr. Pineda that he was not being judged based on any evidence of unlawful conduct, but rather on his identity, race, ethnicity, and/or national origin,” Pineda’s attorneys wrote.
The lawsuit alleges ICE officers then “forcibly” handcuffed and shackled Pineda before taking him to the agency’s field office in Burlington.
Officers searched Pineda’s belongings during the stop and again at the field office, allegedly confiscating $600 in cash that he intended to use to pay his family’s rent. The money has not been returned, according to the complaint.
Pineda spent two days in ICE custody under what the lawsuit describes as “cruel and inhumane conditions.”
“After what ICE did to me, and after everything my family has endured, I don’t know if I will ever truly feel safe again,” Pineda said.
According to the complaint, he was held in severely overcrowded cells containing more than 40 people — at times as many as 60 — leaving little room to sit and forcing him to remain standing for much of his detention. Detainees also allegedly shared a single toilet and sink without soap or toilet paper and were not provided toothbrushes, clean clothes, or showers.
Fluorescent lights remained on around the clock, making it difficult to sleep, while temperatures became “extremely cold” overnight and some detainees received only aluminum blanekts for warmth, the complaint states.
Pineda was given only a two-minute phone call during his detention and received two bottles of water each day, along with “inadequate and limited” food and water, according to the complaint.
“Mr. Pineda has suffered devastating and ongoing physical and emotional harm that has impacted all aspects of his life,” his attorneys wrote. “Mr. Pineda brings this action to seek accountability for these violent and traumatizing tortious acts of the ICE officers and to address the harms inflicted upon him.”
According to LCR, Pineda was released following advocacy by Centro Presente, a Massachusetts immigrant rights organization.
After his release, ICE initiated removal proceedings against him depsite his humanitarian protections, the organization said. Those proceedings were ultimately dismissed.
“ICE targeted Mr. Pineda based on nothing more than his perceived national origin and the nature of his work,” Albert said in the press release. “Our laws prohibit this kind of arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Through this lawsuit, we seek to hold the federal government accountable for the violence and harm inflicted on Mr. Pineda.”
ICE referred questions about the lawsuit to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
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