ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Denver Nuggets at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a 71-67 lead into the second half.
3RD QUARTER: Starters Done, Lead Gained, Lead Lost
Shaun Livingston, Justin Holiday, Harrison Barnes, Marreese Speights, and James Michael McAdoo, which with nothing to play for on the season finale, meant that starters Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andrew Bogut would get the rest of the night off.
Thompson had 25 points on 8-for-12 shooting, 5-for-7 downtown, in the first half as Curry added 10 points, 7 assists, and 5 steals.
The Nuggets started the second half with four out of their five starters, the lone exception being Erick Green in for point guard Ty Lawson, who had tallied 8 assists in the first half. It wouldn’t be too long before Wilson Chandler (16 points at the half), Danilo Gallinari (18 points), and Jusuf Nurkic (12 points, 6 rebounds), took a seat as well.
The second unit did well to stretch out the Warriors’ lead, with the following highlights:
- A Speights pass down low got deflected by Gallinari, but McAdoo got the loose ball and, after one dribble, got a two-hand jam in the open lane on the broken play.
- Livingston made a one-footed runner in the lane.
- Barnes went coast-to-coast for a lefty banker after stealing a pass from Nurkic.
- Speights missed a layup, but got his own rebound plus the harm.
- Livingston deflected a pass from Green to Nurkic at the high post, tip-toed the right sideline while saving the ball, then lobbed an alley-oop to Barnes, who soared in and flushed it home with two hands.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
After Speights took a charge on Nurkic, the Warriors maintained a 83-74 lead with 6:42 to go in the third frame. Holiday later stole a pass from Will Barton, outlet to Barnes, who rewarded Holiday with a lob for a two-handed slam to put Golden State up, 87-76, as Denver head coach Melvin Hunt called timeout with 5:37 to go in the third.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr then inserted seldom-used backup Brandon Rush at the 5:30 mark along with Leandro Barbosa and Festus Ezeli.
Rush and Ezeli combined for a steal on Joffrey Lauvergne after Lauvergne got stuck down low on an offensive rebound of Green’s missed corner trey and Barbosa was the beneficiary on the other end with a layup.
But Rush fouled Lauvergne on a dunk attempt going the other way, with the ball going in after the foul. Kerr called timeout with 2:31 to play and the Warriors up, 96-89, and the beginning of struggles ensued.
Green made a pull-up, then after Livingston got stolen at halfcourt by Green, resulting in a Barton reverse two-handed dunk on the ensuing fastbreak, Speights’ jumper went in-and-out from the top of the circle, Barton drove down the lane as Lauvergne dished back out and that evened the score at 98-98 with 33.7 seconds to play.
Livingston made a floater with 28.4 to go, but Barton answered by spinning on Rush and powering up a bucket inside the lane. The Warriors advanced the ball up quickly, but Barbosa’s trey at the buzzer was blocked by a streaking Ian Clark.
The game was tied, 100-100, going into the final frame, with Barton scoring 10 of his 14 points in the third.
4TH QUARTER:
Before the start of the fourth quarter, the #Roaracle jumbotron played a thank-you segment for the fans, and the crowd responded with a chant of, “Warriors!” to begin the period.
Both bench units would go back and forth in a closely contested finale.
Holiday drilled a three-pointer to erase a momentary deficit and regain the Golden State lead at 103-102 with 10:06 remaining, but he then committed a turnover. Lauvergne got the layup at the other end, but Holiday raced back with an alley-oop to Speights, who converted with a one-handed slam.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Later in the quarter, both teams traded treys as Gary Harris netted one, answered by Holiday pulling up from the deep right wing, who got answered by with another trey by Jamaal Franklin.
Ezeli got an entry pass from McAdoo and a lay-in at the rim to put the Warriors up 120-114 with 4:42 remaining, but Green had a spin-pull-up jumper fall, then Lauvergne made a reverse layup with the harm on McAdoo.
Lauvergne missed the free throw, but the Nuggets got the rebound, then after McAdoo swatted Lauvergne’s scoop shot, Green got the ball on the deep right elbow, launched a trey, got trampled by Rush, and the shot fell.
Green’s and-one free throw then put the Nuggets up, 122-121, with 3:12 left.
Approaching two minutes remaining, Speights took a shot from the right baseline that rimmed off, but Rush was there for the finger roll putback on the other side of the baseline, the ball trickling in. That tied the game at 124-124.
Later, Speights received the ball at the top of the circle, went down the lane with the left-handed dribble, got fouled at the rim, then got hit in the face by the ball as an irate Lauvergne turned away and yelled at the ref, the ball accidentally bouncing hard off the floor. Speights approached Lauvergne, but Barbosa blocked him away, as the officials called a technical on Lauvergne and the Denver coaching staff calmed him down as he sat down with his sixth personal foul.
Speights sank three free throws in a row to put the Warriors up, 127-124, with 1:23 to play, then Green missed a shot that led to a out-of-bound review, during which Warriors fans rained down “Lets Go Warriors” chants upon the court.
After getting the ball back, Mo pushed ahead for a layup to put the Warriors up 5, 129-124 with 1:02 to play. Green rimmed out another jumper from the left side, then McAdoo put the Nuggets away with a fast break slam, giving the Warriors a 131-124 lead with 37.9 to play.
The Nuggets threw the ball away in the backcourt on the next posession. Justin Holiday chased it down to get the steal, then circled and found McAdoo for an additional exclamation point slam as the bench rose to their feet in anticipation of a win.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Barton put in a meaningless layup to make it 133-126, and the Warriors dribbled out the clock to win their 67th game of the season, to become just the 10th NBA team to win as many games during the regular season.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
