Some might say the Dallas Mavericks were robbed of a win or at least another overtime as Jermaine O’Neal illegally blocked Monta Ellis in overtime, which led to a Golden State Warriors possession that Stephen Curry made the most of, hitting a game winning shot, claiming the 122-120 victory.

It was one big three-point shooting contest between the Mavs and the Warriors, which resulted in the best shooter of them all, Curry, running circles around Jose Calderon before launching one under some pressure but not flinching. The two teams combined to shoot 29-of-61 from beyond the arc, with the Warriors hitting one more and via that winning the game.

Only 15 seconds later, with the game tied at 120-120, Monta Ellis came swinging from the right side with Klay Thompson guarding him. He put up a floater that seemed to be making his way down by the time O’Neal, having a huge game while starting once again for the injured Andrew Bogut. Ellis hit a dunk from the exact same angle before overtime, but this time his shot was a bit more difficult and as it turned out, too dependent on officials making the right call, which they didn’t.

Two teams without a lot of defense and the Warriors getting plenty of worrying signs from their bench as they get closer to the playoffs, but at least they’re going to be in the postseason, while the Mavs lose a crucial game with something to gripe about, now 0.5 games behind both the Suns and the Grizzlies who are in the top 8 for now.

Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 27 points, followed by Curry scoring 23, O’Neal shocking everyone with 20 points, Jordan Crawford having a great game from the bench with 19 (including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc) and Andre Iguodala with a rare night in which his offense looks solid and consistent, shooting 7-of-9 from the field and scoring 16 points.

For the Mavs it was mostly a Dirk Nowitzki performance with 33 points as the Warriors found no way to even bother him while he was shooting, connecting on 6-of-8 from 3-point range. Monta Ellis had 27 points and three more bench players finished in double figures. However, it came down to getting one stop and making one more play on offense, which the Mavs simply couldn’t do, or couldn’t catch a break in.

The Warriors are obviously happy with a big win, a clutch win, that pulls them further away from that risky area that involves the Suns-Mavs-Grizz. However, unless Bogut and David Lee return, there are plenty of problems that they’ll find very difficult to overcome, which begins with their defensive issues on too many nights, and guys like Harrison Barnes and Steve Blake being unreliable coming off the bench. For the Warriors to make an impact in these playoffs, they’ll need more than just the shooting of Curry and Thompson, as impressive as the duo might be sometimes.

Incredible win for us. We had everything going against us. They had all the momentum. Guys really stepped up and made plays. I had missed a couple in regulation and a couple in overtime that I felt were good, so I just knew to keep shooting it, and thankfully it went in.

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