ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Denver Nuggets were in town to face the Golden State Warriors in the 2014-15 season finale. David Lee was out due to a strained back. Kenneth Faried and Randy Foye rested for the Nuggets, while Darrell Arthur and Jameer Nelson were out with injuries.
Before the game started, the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the San Antonio Spurs, solidifying the 8th seed. Golden State will face New Orleans at #Roaracle on Saturday afternoon.
1ST QUARTER: The Chef With Four Picks
The Warriors got off to a sloppy start as Draymond Green lost control of his dribble down the left side of the lane and Stephen Curry threw a pass to Harrison Barnes on the right wing into the courtside seats.
But Barnes got Golden State back on track and in the lead with two straight three-pointers from the right corner, both assisted by a penetrating Curry, the second of which was a behind-the-back dribble in the lane by the skilled Warriors point guard.
That gave the Warriors an early 11-5 lead with 8:30 to play in the first quarter.
Later, after Jusuf Nurkic scored a layup at the rim assisted by Ty Lawson‘s drive down the left side of the lane, Curry pushed the ball up and Klay Thompson took an early trey from the right wing.
The ball bounced off the back rim, and landed at the top of the paint, where Steph happened to be standing. He corralled the offensive rebound, spinned on his pivot foot with Nurkic with his hands up, found no one open, and decided to take a one-handed fade-away over the Nuggets’ center. The shot rattled in, giving the Warriors a 15-7 lead.
Nurkic came back with a hustling and-one as he was fouled by Barnes and as Bogut accidentally tipped the ball in the hoop, but Klay got a left corner trey to drop as Nurkic mistakenly lunged for a Curry pass to Bogut at the high pinch. Bogut took a couple dribbles and easily found Thompson wide open beyond the arc for the triple.
That put Golden State up, 18-10, and Denver head coach Melvin Hunt called timeout with 6:49 to go.
The lead was pushed to 25-15 when Green missed an open trey attempt from the right elbow on a swing pass. The shot was way off and caromed towards Bogut’s direction in the left corner. The Warriors big man saved the ball from going out of bounds by sending a behind-the-back save high in the air.
Incredibly, Curry won the “jump ball” of sorts outside the top of the arc, gathered himself, and launched a 25-foot triple. Splash! Oracle roared.
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Steph added another bucket after Ty Lawson missed a three-pointer, going reverse layup right-to-left with the right hand as Leandro Barbosa led the break. That gave the Warriors a 29-17 lead.
With 2:12 to play, Festus Ezeli subbed in for Bogut and, once again, provided a spark. After Barbosa attacked the right side of the lane for a layup to make it 31-19, Warriors, JJ Hickson got an entry pass in the lane, turned around for the shot, and got snuffed by Ezeli.
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Green got the board and led the break, going coast-to-coast, but his layup down the right side of the paint was too hard. However, Ezeli ran the floor and dunked home the putback with two hands.
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On the next possession, Festus disrupted a drive by Lawson, protecting the rim, and Curry led the break, finding Barbosa on a cut under the hoop while in transition, giving the Warriors a commanding 35-19 lead with 43 seconds remaining.
Ezeli later took a charge on Wilson Chandler, who was driving down the lane, trying to close out the quarter with the last shot.
Marreese Speights then subbed in for Festus, got the inbound forty feet away from his hoop, took one dribble, launched, but the long trey at buzzer hit back rim.
Golden State took a 35-23 lead into the second frame as Thompson led all scorers with 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting, 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. Curry added 7 points, 4 assists, and 4 steals, while Bogut also had 4 assists.
Danilo Gallinari and Nurkic led the Nuggets with 6 points, 5 rebounds apiece, while Lawson chipped in 4 assists.
2ND QUARTER: Bench Unit Loses Lead
Speights played pick-and-roll and got a jumper to fall as Shaun Livingston wheeled around and fed him the assist, then Barbosa streaked down the right side again for a layup to give the Dubs a 39-27 lead with 10:38 to go in the half, but the bench unit’s offense would stall again.
“Mo” missed a jumper up top, Andre Iguodala missed a wide open trey from the right side, and Barbosa’s “hesi” move resulted in a foul and two free throws, but Barbosa missed both.
Meanwhile, Denver’s backups got the Nuggets back into the game. Joffrey Lauvergne made a reverse layup, Erick Green drilled a pull-up from the left baseline, and Will Barton added another pull-up. Then Barbosa made a bad pass and Barton streaked down the court with Speights the only defender back, then got fouled by Mo at the rim.
Barton’s two free throws pulled the Nuggets to within 39-35 with 8:46 to play.
Ezeli checked back in, got fouled twice and made three of four free throws in the process, but Ian Clark hit a triple, Gallinari got an and-one against Green, and made another long two. Klay then made a lazy pass that was tapped out to the open court for a fastbreak by the Nuggets, and he added yet another and-one against Iguodala on the fastbreak layup.
That got the Nuggets as close as 49-48 with 5:07 to go as Gallinari missed the free throw.
The Warriors pushed back, however, as Thompson made an upfake in the lane on Lawson after getting the ball on a post-up against the smaller Nuggets point guard. His shot went short, but Curry was there for the offensive board in the lane again. Steph then attacked with one dribble and made a lefty dart pass to Klay on the right side, who retreated enough for a three-pointer.
Thompson added a reverse layup, absorbing the bump at the rim, although there wasn’t enough contact for a call, going left to right into the lane.
Curry then found himself isolated against Nurkic, took him to the hole with a hard right-handed dribble, which went too hard and he had to recover a bit, only to find Klay open from the corner. Steph delivered the ball right into the shooting motion and Thompson drained the 3-ball, right corner pocket.
Curry then picked Lawson’s pocket from behind on a drive, Thompson led the break after picking up the loose ball, and Steph’s three from the left elbow rolled out, but Green ran the floor, got the rebound, re-gathered between two Nuggets, and put the layup in.
Draymond got a two-handed slam down the left side of the lane, but Bogut got caught helping with the “parting of the Red Sea”, called for a foul holding down Chandler from the help defense.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout with Golden State up, 61-54, with 2:35 left.
After Bogut got a lefty bunny hook to go on a spin against Nurkic at the deep right baseline, Chandler drilled a triple from the right wing, assisted by a jump pass from Lawson, but Curry answered back with an early trey that rattled in from the right elbow, fed by Iguodala, and the Warriors were back up, 66-61, with 1:03 remaining.
Lawson got his 8th assist of the half after Nurkic converted a nifty and nimble reverse layup, but Iguodala answered with a right corner splash and Thompson swatted Lawson’s streaking layup attempt before the buzzer.
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Hunt called timeout and drew up a play for Chandler, who posted up in the lane against Iguodala, got a lob from Gallinari on the inbound from the baseline after Klay’s blocked shot, and Chandler converted the jump hook to trim the Warriors’ lead to 71-67 at the half.
Thompson led all scorers with a quiet 25 points on 8-for-12 field, 5-for-7 downtown, while Curry added 10 points, 7 assists, and 5 steals against 2 turnovers.
Gallinari led Denver with 18 points, Chandler added 16, and Nurkic 12, to go along with 6 rebounds.
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