By GREG MENGELT

BOSTON — With five players in COVID-19 protocols, former New Albany star Romeo Langford got the start for Boston on Friday when the Celtics hosted the Golden State Warriors.

Langford scored 2 points and grabbed 2 rebounds in 8 minutes and the Celtics suffered a 111-107 setback at TD Garden. The Warriors are now 24-5 and passed Phoenix for the league’s best record with Friday’s win.

Steph Curry, who broke Ray Allen’s career 3-pointers made mark, scored 30 points and helped Golden State outscore Boston 68-54 in the first half. The Celtics got within a 82-81 at the end of the third and took the lead on a long Jayson Tatum jumper on Boston’s first possession of the second half.

The Celtics trailed 97-95 with 5:56 left, but Curry capped an 8-0 run with a 3 with 4:25 remaining. Jaylen Brown’s basket with 50 seconds left got Boston within 107-104 with 50.9 remaining, but Damion Lee put the game away with two free throws with 2.8 to go.

Boston outscored the Warriors 27-14 in the third quarter.

“Love the fight and effort overall. Shorthanded or not, we’ve got capable guys out there,” Boston first-year coach Ime Udoka said.

Curry, who is averaging 26.9 points per game — fourth in the league — made 5 more 3-pointers for 2.982 in his storied career. Andrew Wiggins added 27 in Golden State’s 13th victory in its last 16 games.

The Celtics (14-15) got 27 points from Tatum, 20 from Brown and 19 from Marcus Smart in the loss. Jason Richardson scored 15 off the Celtics bench.

There were 87 3-pointers attempted in the game.

The Celtics host the New York Knicks at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Knicks are 13-16 after snapping a 4-game losing streak Thursday with a 116-103 win at Houston. The game will air on NBA TV.