Damion Lee #1 of the Golden State Warriors celebrates after they beat the Toronto Raptors at Chase Center on January 10, 2021 in San Francisco, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP
Damion Lee calmly dropped in two free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining Sunday as the host Golden State Warriors overcame one of the worst shooting performances of Stephen Curry’s career to record a 106-105 victory over the Toronto Raptors in San Francisco.
Curry made his first and last attempts, but missed a personal-record 14 straight in between on an 11-point night for the Warriors, who nonetheless won for the fourth time in their last five games.
Lee, who is Curry’s brother-in-law, was fouled as he prepared to take a desperation 3-point shot with Golden State trailing by one in the final seconds.
A career 85.3 percent foul shooter, Lee then gave the Warriors their final advantage in a game they led most of the way, including by 17 points in the first minute of the fourth period.
Seeking a second straight win for the first time this season, the Raptors had a shot at a victory, but Pascal Siakam rimmed out a buzzer-beating, straight-way 18-footer.
Coming off a 38-point effort in which he made 13 of his 24 shots, Curry hit his first shot and then not another until a 3-pointer with 2:43 to go.
After ending his drought, Curry hit two late free throws and Kent Bazemore gave Golden State a 104-103 lead on a layup with 1:06 to go.
But Fred VanVleet connected on a tough 16-footer at the other end, putting Toronto back on top one final time and setting up Lee’s heroics.
Curry was joined in double figures by six teammates, led by Andrew Wiggins with 17 points. Eric Paschall chipped in with 15, while Lee finished with 13, Kelly Oubre Jr. 12 and Draymond Green and James Wiseman 10 apiece.
Green also recorded a game-high 10 assists and missed a triple-double by one rebound.
Siakam paced the Raptors with 25 points, followed by VanVleet with 21, Kyle Lowry with 17, Chris Boucher with 15 and OG Anunoby with 10.
Siakam completed a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds, while Boucher complemented his 15 points with six rebounds and a game-high six blocks.
The Warriors scored 10 of the game’s first 11 points, led by as many as 15 in the first half and went up by as much as 89-72 on a pair of Paschall free throws with 11:41 remaining in the game before Toronto rallied.