LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Karl-Anthony Towns drained a free throw with five-tenths of a second remaining to seal a 131-130 overtime victory over Golden State Friday that left the defending NBA champion Warriors fuming over the officiating and their own miscues.
Towns went to the line after Warriors star Kevin Durant was whistled for a fifth foul on an inbounds play.
Durant was called for holding Towns near the basket, even though the pass appeared out of reach of both players.
Towns made the first of two free throws and missed the second as time expired.
The defeat left the Warriors neck-and-neck atop the Western Conference with the Denver Nuggets, who beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 115-105 to improve to 51-24.
The final foul on Durant was just one of the calls that irked the Warriors.
Seconds earlier, Golden State inbounded the ball to Durant who put up a three pointer that dropped through the net as a foul was called.
But officials waived off the basket saying the foul had occurred before Durant got the shot off.
Curry, who finished with 37 points, produced three three-pointers in an 11-2 scoring run for the Warriors, knotting the score at 130-130 with eight-tenths of a second left.
IRVING SHINES
In the East, Boston’s Kyrie Irving made the go-ahead layup with five-tenths of a second remaining to give the Celtics a 114-112 victory over Indiana and what could be a key playoff positioning advantage over the Pacers.
