Stephen Curry showed what he learned from game one in which he went 1-10 from the field to start the contest. So, instead of settling for jumpers he went looking for open teammates forcing the Denver Nuggets to respect the shooting of the Golden State Warriors. He also stepped up with David Lee out for the remainder of the playoffs with a torn right hip flexor muscle.
It also helped that Klay Thompson got rolling early with nine early points. Even though Curry didn’t score his first two points of the contest until over seven minutes into the first quarter, he dished out three assists and was at seven before he making his second shot. With the Nuggets looking for him to pass he took over the game by scoring.
Small forward Andre Iguodala got off to a strong start scoring 12 points in the first quarter and didn’t score again till the third quarter on a dunk. With him slowed down offensively the Warriors didexcellent work on the glass with Andrew Bogut leading the way with six and Carl Landry added four off the bench for a 21-14 advantage at halftime and an eight point lead.
Curry started the scoring off in the third with a jumper off a screen by Bogut, a three by Harrison Barnes and a layup by Jarrett Jack pushed the lead to 17. Ty Lawson made a jumper and after a miss, Andre Miller hit a wide open three to get the crowd back into the game and it forced Mark Jackson to take a timeout.
At one point the Nuggets cut the lead to seven before consecutive threes by the Warriors. Curry though left with just over two minutes to go in the third after tweaking his left ankle. Fortunately though it didn’t look too severe and while he was out Draymond Green, Landry, Thompson and Barnes came up with big plays to push the lead to 16.
Former Warrior Anthony Randolph played well to start the fourth and the fouls started piling up as well with three including two on Bogut who got forced to the bench with five. Corey Brewer and Miller did their best to keep the Nuggets in the game, yet Barnes made a spectacular dunk and a tough jumper. From that point the lead never went under 10, though Kenneth Faried had a chance to make it a nine point game after a non-existent foul on Green.
Leading the way for the Nuggets, Lawson who scored 19 points and dished out 12 assists, Brewer also had 19, Iguodala added 18 and seven rebounds and Miller scored 18 with five assists. Curry led the Warriors with 30 points, 13 assists, five rebounds and three steals, Jack added 26 points and seven assists, Barnes 24 points and six rebounds and Thompson scored 21.
Overall the Warriors shot 64.6 percent from the field and broke the Nuggets 24 game home winning streak.
Here’s the dunk by Barnes
http://youtu.be/CzXkOoNdbOQ
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