Warriors hold off pesky Clippers

The Golden State Warriors had to deal with adversity on and off the court to pull out a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers and put a happy ending on a difficult day.

Stephen Curry and reserve Carl Landry had 23 points apiece, and the Warriors held off the Los Angeles Clippers for a 114-110 victory on Saturday night.

The win came after the Warriors learned reserve small forward Brandon Rush, their best perimeter defender, will miss the rest of the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the first quarter of Friday night’s 104-94 loss to Memphis.

Rookie Festus Ezeli started at center for Golden State and had eight points and five rebounds in place of Andrew Bogut, who played in the first two games after returning from surgery on his left ankle.

The Clippers fought back with a 16-4 run, capped by a three-point play by Crawford and a pair of free throws by Paul that sliced Golden State’s lead to 101-99 with 3:55 left.

Paul had made 19 consecutive free throws from the start of the game before missing his next one, keeping the Clippers behind 109-108 with 42.9 seconds left.

Curry made one of two for a 112-110 Warriors lead, and the Clippers took a timeout with 21.4 seconds left.

But a driving layup by Paul was negated by his offensive foul against Curry, whose two free throws sealed it with 6.9 seconds left.