Warriors pull past Nuggets to secure a 3-0 lead

Thursday’s game three pre-game between the Denver Nuggets and the Golden State Warriors in round one of playoffs [Photo by Katherine Sweeney]

DENVER – After two at-home victories for the Warriors, round one of the Western Conference playoffs resumed at Denver’s Ball Arena on April 21. 

20 minutes before the game began, the seats were close to empty, but by 7:55p.m. the arena was full and the crowd was deafening. The fans were a sea of blue and gold, making it difficult to tell each team’s supporters apart. A Nuggets announcer warned that the Warriors tend to travel well, but the Denverites supplied an animated home crowd.

“It was a tough game. Right? I knew at the beginning… oh my. They have very good players,” said Alberto Rodriguez, a Nuggets fan and Ball Arena employee.

The Warriors secured a 118-113 win over the Nuggets after a rocky third quarter. This victory in Nugget’s territory brings the Warrior’s record to 53-29, and the Nugget’s record stays at 47-34.

Stephen Curry, Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson had a combined total of 80 points for the Warriors, with Curry scoring 27 points and Poole and Thompson amassing 26 points apiece.

Denver certainly brought the energy in the first minute, as Nicola Jokić won the tip and scored the game’s first two points from the key. Following a 3-pointer from Poole, Denver’s Monte Morris lobbed the ball to Aaron Gordon for a dunk.

With a no-look bounce pass from Monte Morris, Jokić scored a jump shot from the top of the key and secured the and-one after a foul from Draymond Green with five and a half minutes left in the first quarter. Each free throw made by Denver was punctuated by a Mario coin sound effect and booming chants from fans of the Mile High City.

Jokić, the 2021 NBA MVP, is a crowd-favorite, with his nickname “The Joker” emblazoned on t-shirts and poster boards. Jokić carried the Nuggets with 37 points and 18 rebounds. Despite Jokić’s impressive stats, the Nuggets are in need of dependable guards to gain an edge over the smaller Warriors. 

“If you don’t have your complete team, you’re going to have problems,” said Rodriguez.

With point guard Jamal Murray out since April 2021 with a torn ACL, and small forward Michael Porter Jr. benched while recovering from back surgery, the Nuggets are missing some of their key players. Rodriguez has resigned himself to the fact that his favorite player, Murray, will likely be sidelined for the duration of the playoffs.

Fans observe game three in the first-round playoff series between the Nuggets and Golden State from a balcony at Ball Arena. [Photo by Katherine Sweeney]

With 3.5 seconds left in the second quarter, Austin Richards fouled Curry on a breakaway layup. Curry made the free throw, leaving the Warriors with a 69-59 halftime lead.

Denver produced a fierce game in the second half, with Jokić assisting Gordon with consecutive dunks to produce an 80-75 lead for the Nuggets. With four minutes left in the third quarter, Jokić followed up a fake from the three-point line with a floater in the key, evening the score at 82-82. The Nuggets racked up 30 points to Golden State’s 18 in the third quarter and led the game 89-87 at the start of the fourth quarter.

For Daniel Stone, a San Francisco native and University of Denver sophomore, Thursday’s playoff game was his first time attending a live NBA game. Despite his Bay Area roots, Stone felt that Golden State needed to slow down their game and get back to basics.

“The Warriors need to shoot the ball less. They need to pass more,” said Stone.

With seven minutes left in the final quarter, Andre Iguodala scored his first three points of the game on a dunk assisted by Curry, drawing a foul from Will Barton. Despite only spending one season in Denver, Nuggets fans amplified their boos during Iguodala’s free throw, who sat out Game 2 of the series due to neck spasms.

After being shut down by Jokić and Gordon at the bottom of the key with three minutes left, Andrew Wiggins passed to Poole, who then returned the ball to Wiggins for a 3-pointer. The Warriors then held a 112-111 lead.

With 36 seconds left in the game, Green stole the ball from Jokić, virtually clinching the win for the Warriors.

The Warriors battled their way back through the fourth quarter, scraping out the 118-113 win with fourth-quarter 3-pointers contributed by Wiggins, Curry and Thompson. 

The Nuggets and the Warriors will face off at Ball Arena on Sunday, April 24 for Game four of seven in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.