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Ellis nails huge shot as Warriors top Bulls in overtime

Feb 10, 2007 - 8:13 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Unfortunately for the Chicago Bulls, Monta Ellis was feeling much better.

Nursing a nagging knee injury, Ellis scored 16 points and nailed the go-ahead jumper with 42 seconds left in overtime, and Al Harrington added 24 points and nine rebounds as the Golden State Warriors posted a dramatic 123-121 victory over the Bulls.

After leaving Monday's game with a bruised left knee, Ellis returned on Wednesday at Minnesota but scored just six points in 16 minutes. On Friday, however, the 21-year-old guard returned to form.

But coach Don Nelson pointed out that it was more of team effort.

"It was nice to see that everybody who played made a contribution," Nelson said. "Our reserves made the most of their opportunities in the second half. They were key to the comeback in the fourth quarter. We started making our threes and played good defense later in the game. Our screen-and-roll started getting effective when we involved the center."

Averaging 17.0 points and shooting 47 percent from the field, Ellis has been a pleasant surprise for the Warriors this season. He drained the biggest shot of the game Friday, dropping in a soft jumper in the lane to give Golden State a 120-119 lead that they did not relinquish.

"Monta made a great moving 16-footer at the end, which is the shot that he normally makes," Nelson said.

After Harrington nailed two free throws and Chicago forward Luol Deng dropped in a follow shot, Sarunas Jasikevicius made just 1-of-2 free throws to make it 123-121 and give the Bulls one more chance to win or tie. However, Chicago guard Ben Gordon missed an open 3-pointer as time expired.

"I missed it. I just wanted to come out and be aggressive," Gordon said. "I hit two big 3-pointers, and that was really it. It was tough to get some open looks after that. I thought (Warriors guard) Stephen Jackson was pretty close to me, but I had a good look and just over shot it. I don't think we should have had to rely on a last second shot, we could have held them off and had a good chance to win the game."

Jackson agreed that he was able to effectively bother the shot.

"I jumped as high as I could to contest the shot and made him arch his shot more than he wanted to, and that's why it was an airball," Jackson said. "He got a good look at it, though."

He had 23 points and eight assists for the Warriors, who shot 43 percent (44-of-103) from the field, including 11-of-25 from the arc, and got 38 points from their bench.

"You have to have confidence in the guys out there to do the job because coach has the confidence to put them out there," Jackson said. "It's only right for us to have confidence in them to go out there and get the job done. We just have to support them, and hopefully, they play well because I know they do the same thing for me when I'm out there."

After Golden State guard Mickael Pietrus nailed a 3-pointer with 1:18 left in regulation to make it 112-110, P.J. Brown tied the game, netting a follow shot with 50 seconds left that would eventually send the game to overtime.

After an empty possession for both squads, Harrington inexplicably launched a shot from halfcourt with three seconds left, allowing time to expire.

Gordon scored 24 points and Deng added 23 for the Bulls, who shot 45 percent (42-of-93).

"We had a different play set up (at the end), but we have a difficult time executing plays after the timeout," Chicago coach Scott Skiles said. "I think the guys reacted well to it, they swung the ball around and got a great look by a great shooter so we can't complain."