PRESEASON HALFTIME RECAP: Denver Nuggets 63, Golden State Warriors 59 – No Sparks Late As Nuggs Make Shots

ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Denver Nuggets were in town to face the Golden State Warriors in the Warriors’ first preseason game at their regular season home.

1st Quarter Highlights

Perhaps he was juiced after disrupting a Kenneth Faried attack at the rim early on, but Andrew Bogut attempted to go behind-the-back, but didn’t quite get there:

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Later, a Stephen Curry theft of rookie Nuggets point guard Emmanuel Mudiay (and fellow Under Armour endorser!) led to this Curry push-shot, which 8-2, Warriors, with 9:39 to go in the opening frame:

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Draymond Green played tic-tac-toe with Curry to find Harrison Barnes in the left corner to make it 18-11, Golden State, with 7:45 to play in the first, then the Warriors did two passes better than that three minutes later, as the squad made four passes for this beautiful teamwork that led to a Curry jumper for two:

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The Nuggets stayed close, however, with Wilson Chandler getting hot.

With 2:55 to go, Leandro Barbosa came in for Curry and was, not surprisingly, instant offense as he supplied a finger roll via down screen by Festus Ezeli and entry pass by Shaun Livingston.

Andre Iguodala got a steal, then Ezeli blocked JJ Hickson and Iguodala finished the fastbreak with a nice feed to Barbosa:

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At the end of the first, the Warriors held a 35-31 lead with Curry netting 11 points on 4-for-6 field, 1-for-3 downtown, with 3 assists.

2nd Quarter

Iguodala kept the Dubs’ momentum going at the start of the second quarter, with this alley-oop from Livingston…

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…then this three from Barbosa via Iguodala from the right corner. Watch Curry as he celebrates from the bench, with the baby-steps celebration similar to Iguodala back in San Jose!

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However, Barnes checked out of the game with a sprained right knee after this play:

Here’s the play where Harrison Barnes banged his knee. Big ups to @zackaaa for the alert: pic.twitter.com/IWTdajZ9eB

— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) October 14, 2015

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Brandon Rush came back in with under eight minutes to go in the half and connected on his first shot, a right-corner trey courtesy of Curry:

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Curry then took a near-airball by Hickson the length of the court for this pretty behind-the-back delivery to Marreese Speights:

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Curry gave the goggles assist celebration and the Warriors took their largest lead, 53-45, but the Nuggets came right back on the ensuing play with a dunk and the tide shifted, dramatically, from there.

Danilo Gallinari made a beautiful up-and-under reverse scoop, Faried got an and-one with a lefty scoop, Bogut got a charge, and Mudiay hit a jumper then a three and, just like that, the Nuggets were up 59-55 with Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton taking a timeout with 3:32 to go.

Klay Thompson, who had scored just 5 points, all on free throws, in the first quarter, tried to get going, but got stuffed by Faried on a dunk attempt down the lane, which led to a Nick Johnson dunk on the other end.

Nuggets coach Mike Malone even intentionally fouled Bogut, who made one of two free throws, to get a two-for-one situation with 33 seconds remaining. It didn’t pay off as Gallinari missed, but Rush also missed an open three delivered by Thompson at the buzzer, and the Nuggets maintained a 63-59 lead at halftime.

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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @steftilian and @CSNWarriors)