The Golden State Warriors were sticking close to the Miami Heat in the first half at Oracle Arena Tuesday night, but struggled to keep up with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and company in the second. But after a gutsy run led by Nate Robinson late in regulation, the W's forced overtime and eventually hand the mighty Heat only their second loss of the year by the score of 111-106.
The Warriors (3-6) were leading much of the first half against Heat (8-2) after David Lee, Monta Ellis and Dorell Wright lead the way early, trying to keep up with Wade and James. But the Heat came out of halftime firing on all cylinders, ballooning their four-point halftime lead to 17 with the W's not scoring a field goal in the second half until about 2:10 with a David Lee dunk, eventually taking a 12 point deficit into the fourth quarter.
The Warriors fought to bring it back within five points with 5:15 left, which ballooned back a bit, but a Nate Robinson three cut the lead to three with about two minutes left, then he followed it up next time down with a layup to cut the lead to one. Udonis Haslem would get a technical foul, which Nate drained to tie the game with 1:44 remaining.
Then the W's Achilles heel would once again rear it's ugly head as two careless turnovers lead to free throws for Miami, but Dorell Wright's three tied the game with less than 30 seconds left. Monta Ellis couldn't get anything off before the buzzer, leading to overtime.
Another Dorell Wright trey followed by an open dunk by Dorell off a Robinson steal gave the W's a three point lead with a minute to play. The would Heat get the ball with 23 seconds left on what seemed to be Warriors ball out of bounds, leading to a missed LeBron three (only his third three-point attempt of the season) and an impressive W's victory, effectively ending their six game losing streak.
Nate Robinson did his absolute best to energize the crowd off the bench, finishing the night with 24 points to lead the Warriors including a perfect 14-14 from the stripe. David Lee had a great game, dropping a solid double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds, as did Monta Ellis with 22 points. Dorell Wright played outstanding as well, eclipsing his previous season total of five three pointers with six tonight, finishing with 20 points on 6-11 from downtown.
With their first triple digits score of the season and the most important win in Mark Jackson's young coaching career now under his belt, this will certainly be a happy birthday for Joe Lacob indeed.
Full box score can be found here.
For more on the Warriors, head over to Golden State of Mind to get your fix.
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