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 68-64 lead into halftime.
Q3: Separation
Golden State finally buckled up and forced a shot clock violation after Stephen Curry opened the Dubs’ scoring with a long two-point jumper.
Then Kevin Durant grabbed a loose ball on offense and hit a fade-away.
Later, Curry had an upfake then dished to Zaza Pachulia. The ball found its way to Klay Thompson at the top of the arc for a splash, and the Warriors had their first bit of separation as they took a 76-68 lead.
After Danilo Gallinari and Pachulia traded free throws, Wilson Chandler got called for a charge and KD got through for a layup, freezing the defender…
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Later, the Warriors were forced into a late shot clock heave from the logo by Steph, who missed, but after a Chandler bucket, Draymond found Durant around a curl, fed him and KD went down the lane for a slam dunk, the enabling screen set by Curry:
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[protected-iframe id=”d00834809220aebd30a1b40edc7179fe-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbballbreakdown%2Fstatus%2F816148501696421888″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with the momentum shifted, the lead trimmed down to 82-74 with 5:33 to play.
Kerr inserted JaVale McGee and McGee immediately tipped in a missed right-wing pull-up by Curry as the #Roaracle crowd enjoyed itself with an extended Kiss-Cam on the jumbotron during the timeout.
Curry made a bad pass leading to a Nuggets easy fast break bucket, but atoned with a drive inside, and a sling pass to JaVale, who leaned in and converted impressively, off-balance.
But Mudiay hit a pull-up in transition on the next play, both teams traded missed threes, and Jokic ended up going behind-the-back beyond the arc to shed Green, and there was once again zero help as he got to the rim for two points.
Draymond threw his hands up at a stunned Steph and KD, upset with the non-help, and Kerr called a twenty-second timeout as Anderson Varejao consoled Green a bit.
Out of the timeout, Steph did his thing, got into the lane for a layup with English, then later split the defense at the top for a push-shot at the free throw line.
Jameer Nelson missed a three, Draymond got the board, fell down, and the ref whistled a foul on Yusel Nurkic sending Green to the line with 45.1 seconds to go, the Nuggets in the penalty.
Draymond hit both free throws, but Chandler answered with a three, Will Barton came in, streaked up the court and fed Nurkic for a baby hook, and Andre Iguodala airballed a trey too hard from the left corner, then missed a running banker at the buzzer.
The Warriors held a 94-85 lead heading into the final frame.
Q4: Late Beastin’ By Draymond
Thompson got the scoring started in the fourth quarter, then Shaun Livingston tipped in a missed shot with his long, soaring arm, and added an and-one against the diminutive Nelson in the post:
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But out of the timeout, the Nuggets responded, with Chandler a jumper and a trey and a Barton triple matched by a KD “J”, and the Nuggets pulled to within two possessions, 104-98.
Then Livingston found Iguodala with a reverse fling that led to an Andre dunk…
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The pendulum swung back towards Golden State, especially after Durant blocked Chandler…
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Livingston scored again over Nelson in the post, then after Chandler missed a three, Draymond splashed from distance and the Warriors were up by 13 approaching six minutes to play.
Denver wouldn’t go away, and Golden State seemed to have delivered a knockout punch as Pachulia set an off-ball pick for Curry, who drilled the triple from the right arc over a late Mudiay, assisted by Green, to give the Warriors a 118-104 lead.
Draymond added an offensive rebound on a missed lefty by Clark and was fouled, adding one more point to the margin as Kerr brought in Iguodala and KD to close out with the “Death Lineup”.
But the Nuggets fought hard, Gallinari hitting, then after a Durant miss from up top, Jusuf Nurkic over-powered KD down low at the other end, got two trips to the line.
Klay, however, dribbled into the paint, jump-stopped, and sort of flung the ball in from his waist to put Golden State back up, 121-108.
Jokic kept punching back, hitting a triple, then Draymond threw the ball into Chandler’s hands and Gallinari dunked at the other end.
Steph back-rimmed a pull-up, and Jokic made an impressive fade-away from the left baseline.
With 1:31 to go, the Nuggets pulled to within two possessions, 121-115.
Thompson missed, but Harris also was off from downtown, and Green came right back with a slashing righty to force Malone to call another timeout with 42.9 seconds left, Golden State still up, 123-115.
Gallinari scored out of the timeout, then Curry missed again from the right baseline, but Draymond beasted a tip-in out of nowhere, out-hustling the three-inch taller Gallinari, who was sure he had Green boxed out:
[protected-iframe id=”06dabb1d628b80a87075224c7bb2a718-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbballbreakdown%2Fstatus%2F816159240536592385″ width=”680″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″]So with 28.2 seconds remaining, the Warriors breathed a sigh of relief and held a 125-117 lead.
Gallinari missed on the next sequence, but Harris was there with the offensive rebound scoop, although the Nuggets were running out of time.
Klay drew two free throws with 13.6 seconds to play, and Mudiay missed Denver’s last gasp from beyond the arc, ending with a 127-119 final score.
Thompson led all scorers with 25 points on 9-for-19 field, Curry tallied 22 points and 5 assists, Durant collected 21 points on an efficient 10-for-19, Pachulia had 11 points and 9 rebounds, and Draymond notched his second triple-double of the 2016-17 campaign with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists.
Clark was a sparkplug off the bench with 12 points on 4-for-5 field and 2 steals, while JaVale McGee chipped in 9 points on a perfect 4-for-4 floor with 4 rebounds in just 9 minutes of play.
Jokic and Chandler both had impressive 21-point outings, with Jokic adding 13 rebounds and 5 assists, Nurkic collected 15-6-4 in just 21 minutes of play, Gallinari had a respectable 19-and-8, and Barton tallied 15 points off the bench.
The Warriors (30-5) will face the Trail Blazers at home in two nights.
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