The Golden State Warriors were at the Pepsi Center to face the Denver Nuggets. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr gave four impact players the night off: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala.
Shaun Livingston, Justin Holiday, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, and David Lee got the start. Only nine players were available for the Warriors as Marreese Speights served a one-game suspension for pleading no contest to a reckless driving charge in Florida in December, and Ognjen Kuzmic was unable to be called up due to a shoulder injury.
Kerr said before the game that the team was not aware this morning that Speights would be suspended for this particular game.
Ty Lawson was out ill for the Nuggets.
1ST QUARTER: Holiday And Draymond Help Close The Gap
The inspired Nuggets, whereby new coach Melvin Hunt took over for the ousted Brian Shaw just six games ago, overpowered the Warriors early on, as Kenneth Faried got a putback and a two-handed dunk on a slip assisted by Randy Foye. Jameer Nelson got past Livingston for a layup and Danilo Gallinari got a dunk inside on a feed after Barnes unsuccessfully lunged for the steal.
After two missed three-pointers by Holiday, the first of which was punished by an in-transition pull-up trey by Foye on the way back, and a miss from downtown by Green, leaving the Warriors just 1-for-6 from the field out of the gate, Chandler Wilson went backdoor on Barnes on the left baseline and got a feed from Nelson for a dunk.
Kerr called timeout with Golden State now down 13-3 with more than seven minutes remaining and could be seen on TV saying to Barnes on the way to the bench, “C’mon now, Harrison, that’s twice.”
Holiday got back into rhythm, though, and made two catch-and-shoot treys, one from the right elbow and one from up top.
Green also got cooking, getting a pair of strong drives with the hoop and the harm. After a missed putback by Faried, Livingston got the rebound, pushed the ball, and lobbed a halfcourt pass to Green, who found himself against Gallinari under the rim and converted the layup plus the free throw.
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Then, isolated on the high left elbow against Faried, Green took him down the left side of the lane and got a difficult banker to fall, and-one. Green had also earlier gone behind-the-back on a crossover drive against Faried.
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But Chandler got another layup assisted by Foye, Denver’s 6th assist on 10 made field goals, and after that, Foye got past Brandon Rush easily for a layup.
Along with Rush, by the four-minute mark, Festus Ezeli and Leandro Barbosa had checked in and, despite the good offensive start by Green, Draymond had a couple lapses while closing out on defense. He lunged out too far and fouled Gallinari’s made three, then fouled him again on a similar play up top, although the refs reviewed the play and saw that Gallinari’s shot was a two, not a three.
James Michael McAdoo, called up from the D-League Santa Cruz Warriors yesterday and in anticipation of a number of games against non-playoff teams coming up in the schedule, replaced Green at the three-minute mark.
Ezeli had a nice run, getting a right block post up spin-and-bank to fall, with the entry pass from Barbosa, then a two-handed slam putback of a Barbosa missed jumper, and a block on Gary Harris‘ layup attempt.
On the last possession, Barbosa brought the ball up, passed it to McAdoo, who found his defender collapsed into the paint. McAdoo attacked him, rose for a dunk, but it rimmed out. Harris missed a jumper on the ensuing change of possession as the buzzer sounded. While it was a missed field goal, McAdoo showed confidence and a sense that he belonged with that play.
The Nuggets took a 34-26 lead into the second quarter.
2ND QUARTER: McAdoo!
McAdoo didn’t skip a beat, getting a steal on a bad pass by Will Barton to start the quarter and a run-out dunk assisted by Rush.
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He then got an and-one attacking JJ Hickson, drawing the foul, and Jusuf Nurkic goal-tending the shot.
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Ezeli showed some touch, getting a flat-footed jumper from the elbow to trickle in after Holiday and Rush cut off of him on the high Triangle-like action. The shot by Festus trimmed the Nuggets lead to 40-33 with 9:17 to go in the half.
But McAdoo wasn’t done. After receiving a pass, he took two dribbles to the right baseline, stopped and popped, and drilled the jumper. After that, he got a dunk. Barnes and Green came back in shortly thereafter for Rush and McAdoo.
That’s when Holiday got cooking, hitting a baseline catch-and-shoot on an inbound by Livingston, splashing a three from up top on an offensive rebound and pass out by Lee, and draining yet another trey from the top after a feed by Lee again, as Holiday curled off a high screen from Green.
That pulled the Warriors to within three, 48-45, with 4:34 to play in the half.
Barnes added a gliding layup finished with a lefty scoop, assisted by Draymond pushing the ball up again, and Lee finally got a bucket to drop, although he was just 2-for-7 through the first half, but Chandler got a dunk on in-transition cut led by drop-pass bouncer by Nelson, Faried got a banker in traffic to fall as Green was called for an off-ball whistle against Gallinari, resulting in a three-point play by the Nuggets, and then Nelson drilled two three-pointers.
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Denver thus took a 62-54 lead into halftime.
Faried led all scorers with 16 points, 10 rebounds, dominating the glass with half of the boards on the offensive end, while Gallinari and Nelson added 10 apiece. Foye chipped in 6 assists.
Holiday led the Warriors with 14 points and McAdoo added 11 off the bench. Green had 8 points, 5 rebounds, but also 3 personal fouls. Lee and Barnes were somewhat disappointing with just 7 points and 4 points, respectively. Barnes shot just 1-for-6 from the field.
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