 The Clippers' Quentin Richardson glides to the hoop against Golden State. Catherine Steenkeste NBAE/Getty Images 56k | 300k |
"At halftime I came in (the locker room) and told myself I had to just come out and play hard," said Jamison, who was 10-for-26 from the field. "Just go out there and made a difference. My main focus was to win this game."
"Antawn, he was the man tonight," Golden State coach Dave Cowens said. "He just took over, he was pretty special. He asserted himself and got extra shots for us by keeping the ball alive off the glass."
The Warriors never trailed in the extra session after Chris Mills opened the period with three-point play. He was fouled by Darius Miles while hitting an off-balance bank shot and drained the free throw.
Elton Brand, playing his first home game for the Clippers, hit a jumper, but Mills countered with a shot with 2:38 left and Larry Hughes added a jumper to give the Warriors a 105-100 lead.
Lamar Odom made two foul shots as the Clippers got within 107-104 with 1:14 to go and Quentin Richardson hit a basket with 23 seconds left.
Hughes went 1-of-2 from the line and Los Angeles' Corey Maggette converted two free throws, tying it at 108-108.
Hughes, who had seven of his 15 points in overtime, made another two from the line with two seconds left and Brand hit the front of the rim with a nine-foot jumper as time expired.
Mills scored 20 points and Hughes added 10 assists for Golden State, which snapped a 15-game losing streak dating to last season and won for only the third time in the last 39 games. It had not won since a 103-95 victory over the Detroit Pistons on March 24.
"It's a long time since we found out a way to win a ballgame instead of losing," Jamison said. "We started off kind of sluggish. We came in at halftime and got it together. We took a giant step tonight."
Richardson scored a career-high 26 points off the bench, Brand contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds and Odom had 18 and seven for the Clippers (0-3), who have lost their last six home openers. A crowd of 19,445 came to the Staples Center, the largest attendance for a home opener in franchise history.
Overtime futility is nothing new for Los Angeles, which went 3-10 in games requiring an extra session last year -- losing the first eight contests -- and lost an overtime affair at Houston on Thursday.
"This is definitely a tougher loss than Houston," Brand said. "We're in front of our home crowd, a sellout. We had command of the game. We were up 14. We let them back in the game."
The Clippers twice owned a 14-point lead in the second quarter, the last time on a reverse dunk by Miles with 5:55 left. But the Warriors battled back and entered the final period trailing, 81-76.
In the fourth quarter, Richardson's two free throws gave Los Angeles a 98-93 advantage with 2:15 left in regulation before Jamison made a pair of from the line.
Brand missed two free throws and, after Erick Dampier hit a layup to pull Golden State within two points, the Clippers turned it over on a shot clock violation with eight seconds remaining.
The Warriors took advantage when rookie Jason Richardson hit a game-tying jump shot with four seconds left.
"I knew my team was counting on me to rise up to a big situation and I was able to knock it down," Richardson said. "It felt great."
The Clippers were disappointed in their effort in the second half.
"We didn't get the defensive stops we needed, especially in the fourth," Odom said. "We showed the signs of our youth. Hopefully we can get this out of our system early."
"It was a tough loss," Los Angeles coach Alvin Gentry said. "We played hard but in the second half our defense failed us and it allowed them to get back in the game."
Dampier contributed 14 points before fouling out and Jason Richardson had 12. Golden State shot 43 percent (42-for-98) from the field and held a 49-44 edge in rebounding.
Jeff McInnis scored 12 points and Michael Olowokandi chipped in 10 and seven rebounds for the Clippers, who shot 41 percent (38-for-92) but were outscored, 68-56, in points in the paint.
"I felt like we had the game," McInnis said. "Even when we were down five points in overtime, I felt like we had the game. We got to the point where we were worryuing too much about losing the game, instead of going and winning it."