ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Denver Nuggets at the Golden State Warriors
The Warriors held a 74-44 lead at halftime.
3rd Quarter – Sluggish Start Revamped By Curry
Up 30, the Warriors came out of the gate somewhat disinterested as Stephen Curry missed two threes and committed two turnovers, and Festus Ezeli got an offensive charge.
Golden State’s interim head coach Luke Walton took a timeout as the Nuggets went on an 11-3 run to close the gap to 77-55.
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Ezeli got his energy back up, corralled an offensive rebound of a Curry missed three from the right wing, then dished back out to Steph in the right corner. This time it swished through:
Will Andrew Bogut ever play for the Warriors again? More at 11. pic.twitter.com/q4cgdyLPS2
— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) November 7, 2015
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That was the beginning of 10 straight points for Curry, as he got a runner, a three, and a reverse layup.
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Shaun Livingston made a layup on a cut, fed by Andre Iguodala, then Curry up-faked a three from the top and drove down the right side for an and-one layup against Nikola Jokic.
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That gave the Warriors a 99-73 lead heading into the 4th quarter.
At that point, Steph was up to 33 points scored on 12-for-21 field, 8-for-15 downtown.
4th Quarter – The Energy Returns
In the final frame, the Nuggets closed the gap to 104-91. James McAdoo got some burn and even hustled on a fast break to recover a ball jarred loose from an attacking Andre Iguodala’s hands, to feed a trailing Harrison Barnes for the two-hand slam.
But after six straight points by Will Barton, Curry came back in with about 6:30 to play and, after a missed two-hand jam by Barnes streaking down the lane, Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton brought all the starters back in.
The momentum immediately shifted as Klay Thompson swished a left corner three after an inbound from Jameer Nelson was stolen in the paint by Ezeli.
Randy Foye and Darrell Arthur missed shots and Barnes then drained a catch-and-shoot jumper from the left baseline. Nuggets head coach Mike Malone called timeout to stop the bleeding.
It worked, as Denver whittled the lead down to 10 on successive pull-up treys by Jameer Nelson, whereby Draymond Green made an errant pass down low to Ezeli and Curry followed that up with a missed, contested triple from the top.
Walton went small, inserting Iguodala for Ezeli at the 3:16 mark with the Warriors up, 114-102.
Then after Curry got a piece of a Mudiay layup, the transition defense had Arthur on Curry up top. Steph passed it over to Iguodala, who went down low to Green, posting up on the diminutive Nelson.
Draymond passed out of a double-team to the cross-court left wing where Thompson was ready. The defense shifted and closed out, and Klay easily found Barnes in the left corner. Harrison swished it through and Malone called another timeout with the Dubs now up, 118-102, with 2:02 to go.
Curry rebounded a Nelson missed three, got fouled, and Walton began to clear the bench after Steph missed the second throw, with 1:37 remaining and Golden State 119-102 with 1:16 to play.
The game ended 119-104 as Curry notched 34 points on 12-for-22 shooting, 8-for-16 beyond the arc, 7 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals, and 4 turnovers.
All five Warrior starters scored in double-figures, including Green with a near-triple-double at 12 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and Barnes added 21 points on 8-for-13 field.
Thompson tallied 18 points, 4 treys, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.
The Warriors head to Sacramento tomorrow to face the Kings.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @shug625)
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