WARRIORS PLAYS WELL TO COVER 19 POINT DEFICIT

 

After draining just his second 3-pointer of the game midway through the third quarter Wednesday night, Warriors guard Stephen Curry stood for a moment, put both hands to his lips and blew a kiss to the near-empty stands.

 

As he toiled through one of the worst shooting performances of his NBA career, Curry was just pleased to finally see the swish of the net. His dominance has been a pre-requisite for the Warriors to even compete this season, which is why what they went onto to do Wednesday night at Chase Center — escape with a 120-112 overtime win over the Heat — was so remarkable.

 

“The guys played so hard, really the whole night,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said.

 

Golden State trailed by as many as 19 points before using a 16-5 run to get within four midway through the third quarter. But as the game wore on, the Warriors appeared to tire. And who could blame them? Golden State was without its emotional leader in Draymond Green, who was ruled out minutes before tipoff with a sore right ankle.

 

Then, just as a win seemed to be slipping away, the Warriors began to channel the free-flowing style that was a driving force behind their recent dynasty. With players in constant motion, Golden State closed regulation on a 20-9 run to knot the game at 105-105 and force its first overtime of the season.

 

After shooting just 3-for-16 from 3-point range over the first four quarters, Curry finally began to find a groove from his preferred area on the floor when it mattered most. His 29-footer with 1:15 left in overtime gave the Warriors a three-point lead. With 17 seconds remaining, Curry hit a step-back 3-pointer to put Golden State up 118-112.

 

It was his free throws moments later that iced what should go down as perhaps Golden State’s most inspired victory of the season. Though the Heat are not nearly the team they were win they made the Finals in the Orlando bubble, they are loaded with players who understand how to close out games.

 

But there the Warriors were, beating Miami in overtime despite never having led in regulation. What made the win even more notable was that Curry’s 13 missed 3-pointers in regulation were the most of his career. Without Green initiating the offense and assisting him, Curry looked uncharacteristically human.

 

Even before Green’s late scratch, the Warriors didn’t have a player available taller than 6-foor-7 because all three of their true centers — James Wiseman (wrist), Kevon Looney (ankle) and Marquese Chriss (leg) — were out with injuries. The 6-foot-6 Green, long a point-forward of sorts, had thrived as a point-center in seven games as he continued to make a habit of finding Curry.

 

With Green sidelined, the Warriors weren’t just forced to start two-way-contract player Juan Toscano-Anderson at center, small forward Andrew Wiggins at power forward and shooting guard Mychal Mulder at small forward. Golden State had to try filling the void of its defensive anchor, best playmaker and, perhaps most importantly, the player most adept at unlocking Curry’s greatness.

 

“This is a very opportunistic bunch,” guard Kent Bazemore said. “We have a lot of guys who put in work on the daily to come out and perform at a high level when guys get their name called. … We are a result-oriented team at the end of the day.”

 

Golden State got timely contributions down the stretch from complementary pieces such as Bazemore and Eric Paschall. Out of the rotation at the start of the season, Bazemore hit two critical shots in overtime to help the Warriors steal the victory as he finished with 26 points on 10-for-19 shooting. Curry added 25 points and 11 assists, while Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr. each chipped in 23 on efficient shooting.

 

This was the type of team effort the Warriors have often lacked this season. Now, with Green, Wiseman and Looney expected to return in coming days, Golden State can only hope it will build off Wednesday’s resilience and beat Orlando on Friday for its first three-game winning streak.

 

“Miami’s a good team,” Wiggins said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons, but we were able to pull out the win. It was definitely one of our better ones.”

 

Article by: Connor Letourneau, a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @Con_Chron