Two nights after walloping OKC, the Golden State Warriors (46-8) headed West towards home with a stop at the Denver Nuggets (24-30).
The Nuggets dressed only nine players and were without Gary Harris (hamstring), Wilson Chandler (illness), Darrell Arthur (knee), Kenneth Faried (ankle), Danilo Gallinari (groin), and Emmanuel Mudiay (back).
With so many opponents unavailable, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr decided to rest Klay Thompson and Shaun Livingston, listing them as “out” with a sore arch and the birth of a new baby, respectively.
Once again, Golden State was also without the services of Zaza Pachuia (right shoulder strain) and David West (non-displaced fracture, left thumb).
Q1: Yeesh
A mile high, the Warriors got off to a rough start as they couldn’t box out. Will Barton got two putbacks from the shooting guard position, then Juancho Hernangomez caught fire, drawing an “and-one” then smashing home a two-hand dunk after Kevin Durant lost the ball trying to split a double-team at the top.
Still, Durant and Stephen Curry were on-point from the field, KD getting his own “and-one” on a crab-dribble post-up-fade, plus a lob from the mid-post against the diminutive Jameer Nelson, to a cutting JaVale McGee.
Curry added a deep two, but Hernangomez’s dunk gave the Nuggets an early 14-9 lead with 8:25 remaining as Kerr called timeout.
“KD” got a feed at the rim on the after-timeout play, but Denver kept pouring it on as Barton hit a step-back trey, the Warriors’ defense got sucked in with an attack from Nelson and a roll from Nikola Jokic, leaving Hernangomez wide open for three more on the right side…
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Steph couldn’t hit as the Warriors reached 0-for-5 from downtown, and they only countered with free throws from Green and a nice steal and dominating one-on-one fastbreak from Durant:
[protected-iframe id=”a84fd3a32d5c363e4e6c75c66bc24081-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FRyanCovay%2Fstatus%2F831329032851447809″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]The Warriors, playing their third game in four nights, made off-target passes that led to the Nuggets running downhill and getting open for three.
Nelson hit one, Hernangomez hit another, and even Johnny O’Bryant cashed in, the sixth triple in the quarter for the Nuggets.
Andre Iguodala stepped up and got a backdoor layup, plus a dunk off an inbound, and Ian Clark hit the Dubs’ lone trey on a left-wing catch-and-shoot, but Steph missed another from beyond the arc with 11 seconds to play, and Denver took a 42-30 lead heading into the second stanza.
Q2: Avalanche!
Clark provided a little spark to start the second quarter as he hit a jumper then scored a reverse layup on the break as James McAdoo tapped an entry pass away, Briante Weber got the loose ball, and Draymond outlet to Clark.
[protected-iframe id=”f9d8c3af87e5a917797ba8e42239dda9-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FJaeAzizi%2Fstatus%2F831331981141037056″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]But Mike Miller and Hernangomez responded once again from — you guessed it — three-point land, and the Nuggets held a 50-34 lead with 8:44 to go.
The downhill slide turned into an avalanche after that, even though Patrick McCaw and Ian Clark managed to find a friendly roll at the rim and board for triples.
Curry came back in and promptly missed a shot-put runner, resulting in a Gary Harris trey on a swing pass in a closing-out Durant’s face, giving the Nuggets 11-of-16 from downtown and a 60-43 lead with 5:35 left:
[protected-iframe id=”f686f47bdf5cb31099cb761290b38668-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbballbreakdown%2Fstatus%2F831335601781682180″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]Weber was aggressive on defense again, which led to a KD block…
[protected-iframe id=”09145d011371a822a6509defc3cf520f-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbballbreakdown%2Fstatus%2F831335862193369088″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…then Durant turned the corner with a brilliant one-hand jam in a half-court set…
[protected-iframe id=”4754fe2b91cc9f7bc0154098f883640b-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FJaeAzizi%2Fstatus%2F831335725849120769″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]…but Harris got another triple, Steph threw the ball off McGee’s head and, with the Warriors not even looking, Harris got a touchdown pass and dunked, giving Denver a twenty-point lead.
McGee answered with a nice drop-step reverse layup versus Jokic…
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[protected-iframe id=”7fbdf92c6c20a7860652d1cf1bfaee72-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbballbreakdown%2Fstatus%2F831336421801615361″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…Barton connected from deep…
[protected-iframe id=”8b81dc1c38d98ecfedd5cf1e54f2aeca-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbballbreakdown%2Fstatus%2F831336699540054016″ width=”360″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″]…only to have Curry respond with his first made triple off the bounce, but Denver played “keep-away” and the ball got swung to Hernangomez for another splash, Steph missed, Jokic scored inside, then after Iguodala missed a three, Jokic found Nelson for a backdoor layup past McCaw.
The Nuggets led, 79-52, with 1:00 remaining.
KD drew a push-off on Jokic, then after a timeout, went with the lefty dribble past him for a two-hand smash…
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Denver took a commanding 79-54 lead into halftime.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @emib07)
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