Warriors Take Them One at a Time to Beat Clippers in Overtime

The Golden State Warriors, despite going without a field goal for the final 3:36 of the game, beat the Clippers, 143-138, in overtime Thursday night at the Sports Arena to move seven games over .500 for the first time in 6 1/2 seasons.

The Warriors beat the Clippers, for the fourth consecutive time this season, at the free-throw line.

Chris Mullin made a pair with 1:02 left to tie the score, 137-137, and rookie Mitch Richmond made six consecutive attempts for the victory. Ken Norman hit one free throw with 20 seconds remaining for the Clippers.

It tied the season mark for the most points in a game for the Clippers, who looked vastly improved from the shoddy effort Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks. Still, they lost for the third straight time and dropped to 11-39 overall.

Don Casey is 1-11 as interim coach, but five of the losses have come by seven points or less.

“We had 100 chances,” Casey said. “But we’ve got to nail the shot. Next time we may nail them, but I’m disappointed this time.

“This is the encouraging kind of sign I’m looking for, but we still need the W. . . . I think we were more than competitive. I think we were in control. Not the whole game, but enough to feel good about what we were doing.”

Golden State (27-20) has its best record at this stage of the season since being 35-12 in 1975-76.

The score was tied, 131-131, at the end of regulation in what was a seesaw game the entire way.

It was 41-41 with 10:48 left in the second quarter when the Warriors went on a 16-3 run to take control, for a while, at least.

The Clippers responded by drawing to within 61-54 with 3:59 left and then, with 1:04 remaining, 68-66, on a pair of free throws by Quintin Dailey. The first half ended with Golden State ahead, 72-68.

The Clippers, who were outscored, 12-7, in the overtime period, got 30 points and 15 rebounds from Norman. Charles Smith added 29 and Dailey had 25. Norm Nixon contributed a game-high 14 assists.

Mullin scored 29 for the Warriors. Richmond had 27 and Terry Teagle added 23.

“I had bad vibes about this game going into it,” Golden State Coach Don Nelson said.

In that case, he wasn’t disappointed.

“We had to shut Charles (Smith) down,” Nelson said. “I put Manute (Bol) on him and he shut him down. We did a good job of keeping Charles out of the offense. I give Manute credit for that.”

The Warriors, playing especially well on offense in recent games, made 51.5% of their shots. The Clippers hit just 40.2% of their tries.

They missed Joe Wolf, starting at center in place of Benoit Benjamin as Casey attempted to match up with Golden State’s small lineup, for the last 12:23 of the game. Wolf, who had 11 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes, was poked in the left eye by Mullin after grabbing a rebound.

Wolf left the locker room with a gauze patch taped over the eye and will be examined today. His status for Saturday’s game against Washington at the Sports Arena is uncertain.

The prognosis for the Clippers, however, is much better, even if it doesn’t reflect in the standings. After breaking a 19-game losing streak in their last game at the Sports Arena, the Clippers played well in losing at Phoenix, looked bad at Dallas and then played well again against Golden State.

“I’m satisfied with the effort,” Casey said. “It’s a milestone. They (the Warriors) have been blowing everyone out.”

Clipper Notes

Joe Roberts was named as the Clippers’ second assistant coach for the remainder of the season, joining Jim Eyen. Roberts, co-captain of the 1960 Ohio State team that won the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. title, spent five seasons as player personnel director and assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors in the 1970s after playing for three seasons with the NBA’s Syracuse Nationals. He has spent the last few years in private business in the Bay Area and also coached at Castlemont High School in Oakland. . . . Manute Bol had 10 blocked shots to tie the Clipper franchise record for the most by an opponent. Bol did it once before, as did Utah’s Mark Eaton. . . . Benoit Benjamin said he still has some blurred vision after getting scratched in the left eye during Tuesday’s loss at Dallas. He might experiment with wearing goggles in the future, although he did not try them against Golden State.