Curry heroics lead Warriors past Mavericks

ORACLE ARENA — Once again, Stephen Curry saved the day.

Curry splashed home a game-winning jumper with 1.5 seconds showing on the clock Wednesday night and, despite trailing nearly the entire game, the Warriors emerged with a much-needed 95-93 win against Dallas.

Warriors coach Mark Jackson said he was impressed with how his guys fought back and he wasn’t surprised at all with Curry’s final shot:

“He did what big time players do — he hit a big time shot.”

David Lee scored the Warriors’ first bucket to open the game, then immediately stole the inbound pass giving Oracle a reason to get on their feet early.  But things quickly soured for Golden State.

After taking a quick first-quarter lead, the Warriors were scoreless for nearly five minutes and only managed to score two buckets in the last 8:05 of the quarter.

With poor Warriors shooting — 25 percent on 6-of-24 attempts — the Mavericks pulled ahead by seven points (23-16) before heading into the second quarter.

The second picked up where the first left off, with the Warriors missing shots left and right and turning the ball over again and again.

With 50 seconds left in the half, Jose Calderon hit a three-pointer to stretch the Mavericks’ lead to 55-38. Consecutive Klay Thompson treys closed Dallas’ halftime lead to 55-44.

Lee tipped in a missed three-pointer from Thompson midway through the third quarter to trim the deficit to single digits.  Then Curry, who finished with a game high 33 points, let Jose Calderon blow past him before casually rattling in a three to make it 62-56.

Curry had been racking up turnovers all night and committed his seventh on a bad pass intended for David Lee with 5:43 in the third quarter.

Though he finished the night with eight turnovers Curry told SFBay it could have been worse:

“There were some weird turnovers. … It wasn’t ones that were leading to their transition points so we’re ok with that, but obviously we want better possessions.”

Dallas quickly created a double digit lead again, having an answer for every Golden State misstep.  When DeJuan Blair was left unattended in the paint he leapt toward the basket for a ferocious dunk making it 82-72.

Curry finally made it a one possession game with 5:35 left in the final frame, hitting his fourth three-pointer on a cross-court pass from Draymond Green to put the Warriors within three points.

After a Dirk Nowitzki offensive foul, Curry hit from beyond the arc again, tying the game at 82-82 with just over five minutes left on the clock.

The Mavericks briefly grabbed the lead back, but Curry finished off a four-point play with just over a minute to go to put the Warriors back within two.

Golden State cranked down the defense and, after coming up with a steal, Curry sent the ball to Green who hit a three to take the lead 93-92 with 49.9 seconds left in regulation.

On a hard drive to the basket, former Warrior Monta Ellis was fouled and sent to the free throw line.  After missing one, Ellis tied the game with his second shot.

Ellis took one final swipe at the lead with just under thirty seconds, giving Curry and the Warriors a chance to walk the ball up and set up in the half court.

A Mavericks defensive switch left the taller, slower, older Shawn Marion trying to guard Curry near the top of the key. Curry drove right, got Marion to bite on an up fake, then stroked home a jumper from beyond the right elbow to win the game with 1.5 seconds showing on the game clock.

Dallas came into Oracle off a difficult loss to Sacramento on Monday night.  Coach Rick Carlisle already scratching his head after the Kings game, had little to say after the loss to the Warriors:

“We fought really hard and we’re disappointed.”

The Warriors, now 13-10 overall, stay at home to face the Houston Rockets for their second matchup of the season, Friday night.

Notes

Golden State is now 7-2 at home and will play six of their next eight games at Oracle before embarking on a season-long seven-game East Coast road trip. … Stephen Curry finished with 33 points and 10 assists, it was the fifth time Curry has posted consecutive 30-point games in his career whle notching his career-high-tying eighth consecutive game with 20-plus points. … Andrew Bogut totaled six points to go with a team season-high 18 rebounds and two blocks in 35 minutes. … Hilton Armstrong made his Warriors debut wearing uniform No. 57 after signing earlier today (from Santa Cruz Warriors). The fifth-year, 6-11 veteran snared three rebounds in seven minutes. … Monta Ellis finished with 21 points, five assists, and four rebounds in his first game at Oracle with the Mavericks.

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