ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Denver Nuggets were at #Roaracle to face the Golden State Warriors, who were trying to go 6-0 for the first time in their West Coast history.
Andrew Bogut was out again due to concussion protocol.
1st Quarter – Varsity Versus Junior Varsity
The Warriors jumped out to an 8-point lead in the first 3 minutes of play as Festus Ezeli got a “tic-tac-toe” dunk on the first Warriors sequence on an alley oop from Draymond Green, who had cut down the lane and gotten the initial pass from Stephen Curry.
Then Klay Thompson got going, draining two jumpers sandwiched in between two misses. The second miss was a dribble-and-pop from the free throw line that went in-and-out, but Ezeli rebounded the ball and found Harrison Barnes open for a long two.
Prior to that, Curry made another razzle-dazzle behind-the-back bounce to suck in the defense, then found Barnes in the corner for three.
Marreese Speights even added a charge on Hickson with 1.7 seconds remaining.
Curry tallied 12 points on 4 three-pointers plus 5 assists and Green had 6 assists.
2nd Quarter – Swag ‘Zeli And Splash Curry At Your Local Theaters
The Warriors’ bench unit busted out to a 7-0 run to start the 2nd quarter as Leandro Barbosa hit a three, assisted by Iguodala, James McAdoo scored a layup, also assisted by Iguodala, and Andre himself a dunk, assisted by Shaun Livingston.
Later, Iguodala got his third assist of the game as he found Barnes on a cross-court pass. Barnes gave Danilo Gallinari a jab step, pulled up, and swished the jumper.
That gave Golden State a 49-25 lead.
Later, Livingston found Thompson on a catch-and-shoot splash from the right arc as Gallinari fell asleep and closed out way too late in transition, then Barbosa found Green for another triple.
A mandatory timeout for the Warriors with the score at 55-27 with 5:54 remaining, followed.
Curry and Ezeli checked back in and Festus “released the Kraken” immediately.
From yet another baseline out-of-bounds play, Green entried to Curry on the right wing and, as the defense instinctively shifted towards Steph, Ezeli cut to the basket on the right side and got an open dunk on the baseline.
#SwagEzeli was on full tilt as, on the next sequence, Mudiay got snuffed out by Festus, then Green went the length of the floor with the rebound and break and got another alley-oop flush by Ezeli.
Later, Thompson got a nice running layup, assisted by Curry, then the roles were reversed as Mudiay missed a triple, Klay got the rebound, and found Steph for the running lefty layup with a Nuggets defender between him and the rim.
Curry celebrated with a lefty finger wiggle as Speights and Livingston acknowledged with their own same lefty finger wiggle from the bench.
Faried then missed a putback attempt of a Gallinari missed drive, Green got the rebound, outlet to Curry for another break, and as the defense stepped up to defend the pull-up three, Steph dished to a cutting Jason Thompson, who had come to give Ezeli a rest, with a layup.
With 2:23 to play, the Warriors continued their double-the-score pace with a lead of 65-33 as Malone took another timeout.
The blowout continued, albeit not at a warp-speed double-the-score pace, as Curry drained another three, assisted by Ian Clark…
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…and Klay got one from the left corner as Clark got a rare opportunity to swing the ball for the extra pass on close-out defense.
Just to add to the onslaught, Steph added his sixth three-pointer of the half from a sideline out-of-bounds play that had Green setting a pick on the right block as Curry made a cut, came back out, received the pass from Clark, pivoted, and buried from the left wing beyond the arc.
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That gave the Warriors a 74-44 lead at halftime. Curry amassed 20 points on 7-for-13 field, 6-for-10 downtown, with 8 assists. Klay added 15 on 6-for-12 shooting, 3-for-5 beyond the arc. Green had 7 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and Barnes tallied 12 points on 5-for-8 floor.
Golden State notched 27 assists, setting a new franchise record for assists in a half. The record was 26 in 1993 against the Sixers.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @wildroseadventures)
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