Paul Millsap #4 of the Atlanta Hawks tries to steal the ball from Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena on March 1, 2016 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP
OAKLAND, Calif. — Draymond Green somehow caught Andrew Bogut’s baseline save pass at his knees and avoided a diving Kent Bazemore, then let the ball fly as his legs split in the air.
Green hit an off-balance 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 40.2 seconds remaining in overtime, and the Golden State Warriors escaped with a 109-105 win against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night while Stephen Curry watched in street clothes with an injured ankle.
“It’s just a desperation heave,” Green said. “It’s just one of those things sometimes the ball just bounces your way and that one fell for me, unlike a lot of the other ones.”
Klay Thompson made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:54 remaining and another big basket at the 11.4-second mark on the way to 26 points. The Warriors won their second straight overtime game to earn a franchise-best 43rd straight regular-season home victory and 25th in a row this season.
Golden State (54-5) can tie the Bulls’ 44-game unbeaten mark at home from March 30, 1995, to April 4, 1996, when the Warriors host Oklahoma City on Thursday. They are also chasing the ’95-96 Chicago team’s record 72-win season.
The Warriors won their sixth straight overall, improved to 5-0 in OT and haven’t lost at Oracle Arena since a 113-111 defeat to the Bulls on Jan. 27, 2015.
Atlanta’s Paul Millsap missed a wide open 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in regulation, and then Thompson and Bogut each missed potential winning shots in the closing seconds.
Millsap scored 19 points for Atlanta, which rallied from a 14-point deficit to force overtime before dropping to 0-4 in OT.
Reigning NBA MVP Curry sat out with a tender left ankle he injured at Oklahoma City on Saturday night before hitting the long, winning 3-pointer in overtime. Curry, with three straight 40-point games, was named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 43.8 points over four games.
No Curry equaled some no-shows as many prime seats were vacant.
Shaun Livingston started in Curry’s place and had six points, seven rebounds and three assists in his 600th career game. Leandro Barbosa came off the bench to score nine of his 11 points in his first 5 minutes on the floor, while Bogut wound up with 19 points.
The Warriors kicked off March by the playing the first of 17 games over the final 24 at Oracle Arena after just two at home in February.
Green – playing some point guard with Curry out – added 15 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and four steals in Golden State’s first home game since Feb. 9.
His clutch shot meant plenty three days after his halftime outburst in Oklahoma City and ensuing apology.
“Draymond was due, he really was. He hasn’t been making his 3s much lately but sometimes when you’re struggling like that you just get one to go somehow,” coach Steve Kerr said. “More than anything it was to the awareness to get it up on the rim. He just got lucky with the shot going in but he earned it.”
The Warriors just completed an impressive 6-1 trip in which they won the last five following a 137-105 loss at Portland on Feb. 19 – and sealed their playoff berth, too, in the quest for another championship.
Atlanta had won two in a row leading into its four-game road swing out West.
“They made a couple of tough shots, crazy shots, and offensively we didn’t get quite enough to go down for us,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said.
Golden State played back-to-back overtime games for the first time since Dec. 13-14, 2005, a win at Seattle and a loss against Houston.
Home Cooking
Afterward, Kerr congratulated his team on keeping the home winning streak going under tough circumstances.
“I said, ‘How many home wins in a row is that?’ And everybody had a blank stare on their face, so our guys have no clue how many we’ve won in a row,” he said. “It’s a source of pride controlling our own floor. We’ve done an incredible job of that since last year.”