Celtics-Warriors classic saved its craziest possession for last

The Boston Celtics handed the Golden State Warriors their first home loss of the season in exhilarating fashion Friday, but though they led for nearly the entire second half, the result wasn't in the bag until the final buzzer sounded.

Trailing by three, with possession, and 8.3 seconds left in regulation, the Warriors got about as good an opportunity to tie as they could possibly ask for: a clean look for Steph Curry from the left wing.

Before that happened, though, Draymond Green cleared Marcus Smart out of the way with a tackle that would've made Dick Butkus blush.

Green then took the inbounds pass, pitched it to Curry, and tried to screen Smart, who'd recovered surprisingly quickly to get back in the play.

Green's screen didn't take, but Curry shook Smart with a pump fake, and had the 19,596 Warriors faithful in attendance thinking overtime.

Considering the degree of difficulty on some of the other threes he'd hit in the game, it should've been a piece of cake. But after getting halfway down, the ball spilled out.

The possession wasn't done there, though. Green got a hand on the long rebound, batting it back to Klay Thompson, who couldn't squeeze it. The ball ended up in the hands of Harrison Barnes - whose clutch three moments earlier was the only reason the Warriors even had a chance - with two seconds to play.

Curry was wide open above the break. Barnes' teammates even signaled for him to pass it out.

Instead, he dribbled it out himself, then hoisted a desperate turnaround that caught nothing but air as the buzzer sounded and the Celtics finally exhaled.

Here's the final play in its entirety (in two parts):