![]() He finished with a team-high nine rebounds. Golden State had also been getting hammered on the boards, and Thompson said that assistant coach Mike Brown challenged him to get involved on the glass. Denver looked perplexed, and when the Warriors were able to get stops without fouling, they were off to the races with one of the deadliest transition offenses in the league. That's when things changed, however, as Green credited the coaching staff for implementing a box-and-one as the Warriors made their comeback in the final frame. The Warriors' defensive game plan always starts with "defend without fouling," and their failure in that department resulted in an eight-point Nuggets lead after three quarters. Aaron Gordon shot eight free throws in the first half. Nikola Jokic was simply outstanding, as usual, with 30 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists ( Draymond Green told the reigning MVP, "thank you for making me better" after the game), but the foul parade wasn't exclusive to him. The Warriors were able to do that on Wednesday through more disciplined defense, timely contributions from role players and a spectacular closing performance from their superstar.įirst the defense, which gifted the Nuggets 20 free throw attempts in the first half, compared to just seven for the Warriors. If any team is going to succeed in the NBA playoffs, it needs to find ways to win when its stars struggle offensively. For the Splash Brothers, including their newly appointed third sibling Poole, the nets remained largely arid for most of the night. Curry was 2-for-6 from deep and 4-for-11 overall in the first half. For them to close out the Nuggets even when their offense wasn't anywhere near its apex shows the type of versatility this team is going to need in the next series and beyond - if they get that far.įor the game, Thompson and Poole combined to shot 2-for-10 from the 3-point line. It was the team's first playoff series win since 2019, when Kevin Durant was still on the roster. In the end, however, the Warriors looked up at the scoreboard and found themselves advancing to the second round of the playoffs after 102-98 slugfest. "To be honest, I think for three quarters it was like our guys - our main guys, Steph, Draymond, Klay - maybe they had forgotten a little bit just about how difficult it is to close out a series." "It's been three years since we've been in the playoffs, and you kind of forget how difficult closeout games really are," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. The Warriors offense, which had averaged a league-high 125.6 points per 100 possessions for the first four games of the series, appeared to be stuck in a fog worthy of its Bay Area roots. ![]() The game was ugly, with seemingly more fouls committed in the first half than made shots. Instead it felt more like a mildly intimidating, mangy stray dog you find creeping around the neighborhood. The three-guard lineup consisting of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole started for the first time, but didn't exactly resemble the mythical three-headed beast, Cerberus, to which Nuggets coach Michael Malone compared it earlier in the series. The energy seemed off from the jump in Game 5 against the Denver Nuggets, with the Chase Center fans a bit too placid for the players' liking, being asked multiple times to increase the intensity of their cheering and affection. Wednesday, however, was not one of those nights. When everything's clicking and the ball's moving faster than the speed of sound, it's almost like the Golden State offense doesn't consist of five different individuals, but rather one cohesive organism sharing a single mind, spirit and intuition. ![]() And boy are the Golden State Warriors good at it. SAN FRANCISCO - Everybody loves The Beautiful Game. ![]()
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