This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Denver Nuggets.
The Warriors took a 65-51 lead into the third quarter.
Q3 – Curry’s For Dinner
The Warriors continued their steal streak, getting three swipes, one each by Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Zaza Pachulia, in the first three minutes of the second half.
Those resulted in a three for Green, a cutting layup by Curry assisted by Draymond, and a three by Klay Thompson.
On the triple by Thompson, Pachulia tapped out a missed shot, his second tip in the early going, but it went to Gary Harris and Emmanuel Mudiay streaked down the court, but missed a scoop.
Green got the board, outlet to Klay, who fed Curry then back to Thompson for a splash from the open left wing:
From one Splash Brother to another. (@CSNAuthentic) 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nncBSxMe8E
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) November 11, 2016
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After that, Klay added a jumper late in the shotclock from the left elbow that banged in, then Danilo Gallinari missed a triple, Durant got the board, outlet to Steph, who pulled up from the top for a splash, “and-one”:
The #SPLASH and the foul! pic.twitter.com/Ubb9VBx6yk
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) November 11, 2016
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His free throw put the Warriors up, 81-56.
But he wasn’t done, getting another swish from the deep left wing after Harris made a terrible gambling jab at the swing pass to Curry.
The make gave Golden State a 9-for-18 clip from beyond the arc.
After a Gallinari-to-Kenneth Faried inside bucket, Thompson continued the onslaught, passing to Green up top, then running towards him for both the pick and the hand-off, for three more.
Malone called timeout as the Warriors’ lead ballooned to 87-60 with 6:02 to play.
Out of the timeout, JaVale McGee came in and did some more damage as he had in the first half, pairing up with Green to stop Faried at the rim, then running interference up top for Curry for — you guessed it — three more.
Later, late in the shot clock, Steph found himself with the ball way up top, guarded by Jamal Murray.
After losing the dribble, then recovering for a series of behind-the-back and between-the-legs crossovers, Curry gave a dribble-and-pop moving to his left for another deep triple, giving Golden State a 95-66 lead with 3:24 to go:
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Steph even took a heat-check pull-up from two feet inside the logo area, but missed short.
After a timeout, Draymond lobbed to McGee for another alley-oop, JaVale got a volleyball swat at the other end, then after a missed three by Patrick McCaw, scared Juancho Hernangomez into a point-blank miss.
However, Malik Beasley hit two treys and Kerr called a twenty-second timeout, up 97-72.
Out of the timeout, McGee and Curry ran a misdirection pick-and-roll that the Nuggets bit on, towards Andre Iguodala on the left side, and Steph found JaVale for an easy two-handed smash with no one there to defend:
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Murray hit a three, then fouled Curry with 3.9 seconds remaining, albeit not in the penalty. Steph then airballed the sideout catch-and-pivot from the halfcourt logo range.
The Warriors took a 99-75 lead into the final frame.
Curry had amassed 33 points on 7-for-13 from downtown. Durant, though, was stuck 14 points, a night after tying Michael Jordan’s 72 straight games (4th-place all-time) with 20 points or more.
Q4 – KD Falls Just Short
Kerr did what he could to run plays for Durant to hit his 20th point, getting a catch in the middle off of a curl, a dunk down the lane on a fake loop towards David West in the post, but KD ended up falling short.
The Nuggets let Klay hit a three and McCaw go in for an uncontested layup, as if they knew Durant would be the focus, but KD found himself on a catch against Faried and attacked on the left side, hoping to go to the line.
Instead, it was called a charge, and Kerr didn’t risk it, taking out Durant immediately, at 18 points, with 5:50 to go and the Warriors having the game in hand, 112-86.
Shaun Livingston, Ian Clark, McCaw, Kevon Looney, and Anderson Varejao were subbed in, with Looney getting an impressive dunk down the lane.
Kerr took Livingston out with over two minutes left, forcing a big and interesting lineup for garbage time with Clark, McCaw, Looney, McGee and Varejao.
The bench unit of the Warriors continued to try and execute, as Clark got a three from the left wing on a designed play.
McCaw added a nice retreating block of Beasley, although Murray got a dunk after McCaw turned the ball over.
Golden State (7-2), who had five players in double-figures, closed out with a 125-101 final score.
Along with Curry’s 33 and Durant’s 18, Thompson added 19 points, Green tallied 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists, while McGee collected 10 points and 2 blocked shots.
Murray came off the bench and led the Nuggets with 14 points and 6 assists.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @allenbertin)
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