Warriors vs Nuggets Recap: Kenneth Faried Game Winner Trumps Steph Curry’s Late-Game Heroics

Warriors vs Nuggets Recap: Kenneth Faried Game Winner Trumps Steph Curry’s Late-Game Heroics (Photo: Kyle Terada / USA Today)

After a dominating win against a young and up and coming Utah Jazz team, the Golden State Warriors faced, without the services of David Lee (hamstring), a Denver Nuggets that has been rebuilding from last year’s disappointment in the playoffs as a Number Three seed.

The Warriors had a chance to clinch a playoff berth against the very same team they eliminated from the playoffs last season.

FIRST QUARTER

The Warriors came out of the gate, not surprisingly, putting up a lot of jumpshots. The crowd got going early as Thompson hit two big threes. The highlight early on went to Andre Iguodala, who crossed over Quincy Miller, leaving him on the ground picking up his shattered ankles.

Golden State’s defense was big in the first quarter as they held the Nuggets to just 29% shooting and a stagnant 7-for-29 shooting from the field. It looked as though the Warriors would cruise to a playoff berth.

SECOND QUARTER

Curry and Thompson took advantage of some lazy defense from the Nuggets in the second frame. The Dubs held a lead as big as 19 points, however, halfway through the quarter, the lead slipped back down to 12.

Jermaine O’Neal finished the first half with 14 minutes, 8 points and 4 rebounds as he was a key contributor. Second chance opportunities were the ultimate key factor as the Warriors fell short, only putting up 4 second chance points.

At half time, it was Warriors 53, Nuggets 43. Thompson finished the half shooting 5-for-9 from the field.

THIRD QUARTER

The Warriors worst scoring quarter came in the third, only tallying 22 points. The lead was cut to as low as eight during the Nuggets amazing run.

Golden State seemed to be lacking energy from their bench players. Mark Jackson played around with some of his lineups early, hoping to answer back with some momentum of their own. Jordan Crawford had two amazing back-to-back spectacular layups.

Rebounding continued to be an issue for the Warriors. Golden State was on the verge of having the lead slip away, but Harrison Barnes answered with a big three-pointer to push the lead back to four.

The Nuggets got everything they wanted shooting-wise in the third quarter, putting up 30 points.

FOURTH QUARTER

By the time the 4^th quarter started, Timofey Mozgov already had 20 points and 24 rebounds, taking advantage of the Warriors’ lack of size.

Late in the game, both teams scored back and forth as the lead changed hands multiple times. With the Warriors in possession with 42.5 seconds to play, down one, everyone in the building knew who was taking this shot: The Baby Faced Assassin, Stephen Curry.

Curry didn’t disappoint. Leading the NBA with 23 go-ahead points in the fourth quarter, Curry hit a cold-blooded finger-roll to put the Warriors up by one with 4.0 seconds left.

However, after the ensuing timeout, Kenneth Faried backed up Draymond Green in the post as he hit the game-winning shot with just 0.5 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Warriors needed a miracle that Curry couldn’t answer, as a heave from about 35 feet out nicked the front of the rim.

The Nuggets lead the season series 2-1 with a game still remaining this season. The Warriors will travel to Denver for the season finale next Wednesday, April 16th.