Golden State Warriors vs Atlanta Hawks 108-104 on Sunday night

OAKLAND, Calif. Stephen Curry scored 32 points and made the go-ahead free throw in the final minute after a technical foul on Jamal Crawford to help the Golden State Warriors rally from an 18-point deficit and beat the Atlanta Hawks 108-104 on Sunday night.Playing with only eight healthy players, the Warriors scored 16 straight points in the fourth quarter to erase the big deficit and went on to win their first game against a team, with a winning record since beating Boston on Dec. 28. Golden State had lost 11 of 13, with the only wins being blowouts at home against struggling Sacramento and the Los Angeles Clippers.

After losing their big lead, the Hawks lost their cool in the final minute. Leading by two points, Joe Johnson turned the ball over and Monta Ellis went in for a breakaway layup that tied the game at 104 with 1 minute left.After Al Horford missed a jumper, C.J. Watson lost the rebound out of bounds for Golden State. But Crawford was called for a technical, giving Golden State the lead on Curry’s free throw.

Crawford then missed a 3-pointer from the corner with 15 seconds remaining and Ellis hit two free throws to make it 107-104. Josh Smith missed another 3 with 5 seconds to go and Chris Hunter made one of two free throws for the final margin.Johnson led Atlanta with 31 points, Horford added 26 and Smith had 14 points and 17 rebounds. The Hawks have lost three of four.Ellis finished with 26 points for Golden State, but was on the bench for the bulk of the Warriors comeback early in the fourth quarter.

Golden State cut the 18-point lead down to five on two free throws by Curry midway through the period. Curry followed with a 3-pointer and C.J. Watson’s layup tied the game at 95. Curry capped the 16-0 run with a driving layup to give the Warriors a two-point lead with just over 5 minutes remaining.

Ellis gave the Warriors a 102-101 lead when he made one of two free throws, but Johnson answered with a 28-footer as the shot clock ran down to make it 104-102 with 2:22 to go. Atlanta did not score again.The loss was especially tough on Crawford, who had his differences with Golden State coach Don Nelson last season before being dealt to Atlanta. Crawford scored 17 points, topping the 10,000-point mark in his career, but didn’t come through down the stretch.The game was tight for the first half with neither team taking a lead bigger than five points. Atlanta led 52-51 at halftime before breaking the game open in the third quarter.

Horford scored nine points during a 14-2 run that helped Atlanta take a 74-59 lead just past the midpoint of the quarter. Smith added back-to-back dunks, including an emphatic left-hander on a breakaway following a bad pass by Ellis that made it 86-68 late in the third.

NOTES: Warriors F Corey Maggette missed the game with a strained left hamstring. He went to Los Angeles to have the injury examined. … Golden State F Ronny Turiaf missed the game with flulike symptoms. … Ellis topped the 5,000 career point mark as well. …Hawks G Mike Bibby was 1-for-6 from the field and is 3-for-18 over his last three games.(AP)

Phoenix suns vs dallas Mavericks 101- 102

Dirk Nowitzki

Mark Cuban got body-slammed through a table here Monday night by a professional wrestler as several Mavericks were sitting nearby.The players didn’t come to the Mavs owner’s rescue against a carrot-topped WWE villain named Sheamus on Monday Night Raw. But Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, J.J. Barea, Jason Terry and company climbed into the ring Tuesday night and battled to a 102-101 victory against the Suns. The Mavs halted a two-game losing streak and handed Phoenix its fourth straight road loss.

Nowitzki scored a game-high 33 points, his seventh 30-point game of the season. Howard added a season-high 20 points, six rebounds and three steals off the bench in his return from a month-long injury absence. Making his first start, Barea tied his season high with 14 and had six assists. Terry scored 15, including four free throws in the final 12.3 seconds. Jason Kidd tallied 11 assists as the Mavericks improved to 10-1 when dishing at least 25 dimes (26).

Steve Nash led the Suns with 27 points against his former team and drilled two late 3-pointers as Phoenix hacked away a nine-point deficit in the final 90 seconds. Richardson finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Amar’e Stoudemire added 20 points.

“Too little, too late,” Nash said. “We didn’t play well. We also let them out of the bag there for a small stretch in the second half, and couldn’t get them back. So very frustrating.”

The Mavs received an early boost from Barea and a late surge from Howard as they bounced back from ugly weekend losses to Memphis and Atlanta in which they averaged just 78.5 points. Barea scored eight of the Mavs’ first 10 points and sank six of his first seven shots. He went to the bench with his fourth foul early in the third quarter, but returned to spark a 9-2 run that gave Dallas a 77-70 edge entering the final frame.

“J.J. played extremely well. He kept us going again early when we were struggling,” Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle said. “His combination of offense and energy helped us.”

Howard then provided a spark that had been missing with his aggressive and effective drives and timely outside shooting. He scored nine straight Dallas points and 16 of 22 during a stretch that turned a 66-66 tie into an 88-79 advantage with 5:53 remaining.

“He really kept us afloat,” Carlisle said. “He is the best cutter that we have. He is a great runner and he is probably our best driver. He is a dead-eye shooter from mid-range and he makes spot-up threes. He is invaluable, because all those things come into play over the course of our games somehow or another.”

An All-Star in 2006-07, Howard missed 18 of the first 21 games following offseason surgery on his left ankle. He averaged 12.7 points on 35.1 percent shooting in 22.3 minutes in three starts, but had not played since aggravating the injury on Nov. 11.

“It really helped to have Josh back out on the floor and his ability to take guys off the dribble, which he did a good job with tonight,” Nowitzki said. “He hit some big shots for us tonight. Once he gets a good rhythm going, we’ll be a really tough team to beat.”

Trailing 96-87 with 1:26 to play, Phoenix got a three-point play from Stoudemire and a rainbow 3-pointer by Nash over Nowitzki to pull within three. Kidd answered with a 23-foot jumper with his foot on the arc. But Richardson drained one from downtown to make it 99-96 with 21.8 seconds to play. After Terry hit two free throws with 12.3 ticks left, Nash answered again with another trey to trim the deficit to 100-99. Terry hit two more from the line, followed by two from the stripe for Nash. Terry was sent to the line again with 2.4 seconds left. He missed them both, but Richardson’s 65-foot heave was off the mark at the horn.

“We had no timeouts left, so in that situation you’ve got to pray that you’ve got Kobe Bryant on your team, I guess,” Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said.

The Mavericks won the battle of the boards 42-40 and improved to 11-0 when outrebounding their opponents. They were outscored 44-38 in the paint, but that was 28 more than they scored inside against the Hawks on Saturday night.

The road-weary Suns play nine of their next 13 at home, where they are a perfect 7-0 this year and have a 16-game winning streak dating back to last season.

“We don’t have a rhythm to our game. We haven’t the last three games,” Gentry said. “To win on the road, you’ve just got to be consistent in what you’re doing and we had a little lapse in there and that was the difference in the game.”