The Golden State Warriors are known for their amazing long-range shooting, but it was two little-known Clippers who almost performed a miracle in Los Angeles.
The Warriors, playing without Australian centre Andrew Bogut, won Saturday's clash in LA 115-112.
With 90 seconds to go and the Warriors up by 12 points, both teams pulled their stars off the court and tossed on their bench players to finish the game.
With a minute to go, things went haywire.
Newly acquired Clippers forward Jeff Green hit some free throws and LA reserve guard Chris Wilcox dropped a three-pointer.
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Another guard, Pablo Prigioni, then sank two more bombs to cut the lead to three. But with a second to go, Wilcox missed a long three-point attempt that would have forced overtime.
"We got careless with the ball," said Warriors guard Klay Thompson, who top-scored with 32 points.
The win put the Warriors back on the winning track and in pursuit of the record-breaking 72-win, 10-loss season by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the 1995-96 season.
The Warriors improved to 49-5.
On Friday, they suffered their worst loss in four years when the Portland Trail Blazers ran away with a 137-105 victory.
Bogut, the Melbourne-born veteran centre, was ruled out shortly before tip-off due to an Achilles strain he suffered during the Portland loss.
"It'll be OK. I just have to be smart about," Bogut said.
It leaves the Warriors potentially without two centres: Bogut's back-up Festus Ezeli is also out with a sore knee.
Warriors are reportedly interested in signing former Cleveland Cavaliers centre Anderson Varejao.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr opened with a small lineup against the Clippers, playing power forward Draymond Green at centre and inserting small forward Brandon Rush into the starting five.
It worked as they jumped out to a 19-8 lead.
Green had a monster game thanks to his 11th triple double of the season - 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry had 23 points, while Jamal Crawford top-scored for the Clippers with 25 points.
