The Golden State Warriors had a serious test in their second game of the season, hosting a rested and fully-healthy Denver Nuggets squad that most see as the top contender to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the stacked Western Conference. The Warriors passed that test … and thrilled along the way with what will surely stand as one of the best games of the year for the Dubs.
It started with a painful bout of déjà vu for Warriors fans. During Tuesday’s season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers, most
fans were unable to watch the first quarter because the Thunder’s win over the Houston Rockets went into double overtime. And on Thursday? Well, in the first game of the nationally televised doubleheader, the Thunder again went into double overtime, this time besting the Indiana Pacers in an NBA Finals rematch.
That was a funny and frustrating occurrence, but not nearly the issue that it was on Tuesday, as ESPN was far more prepared for the overlap than NBC was, and had the Dubs game teed up on one of their secondary channels.
But if it took you a minute to find that channel, you missed the best basketball the Warriors would play for a few hours. Golden State jumped all over Denver, scoring the first 10 points of the game in the blink of an eye. But David Adelman didn’t panic, and didn’t even call a timeout, and his team responded in fashion, rattling off the next 12 points of the game to stun the Chase Center and take the lead. It was a lead they would hang onto for a very long time.
Like Adelman, Steve Kerr didn’t counter the run with a timeout, but unlike the Nuggets, the Warriors didn’t really respond. Denver, led by the star trio of Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon, found a serious flow on offense, while the Warriors were playing very sloppily, with a lot of head-scratching turnovers. The 12-0 burst turned into a 27-8 run for the Nuggets, but after a late timeout, the Dubs found the cure for what ailed them: Jimmy Butler III. Butler caught fire late in the quarter with the final nine points for the team, and Golden State trailed just 31-27.
The start of the second proved critical, with both Jokić and Steph Curry on the bench. Denver was winning those moments, which is certainly a key for each team. And the reason Denver was winning those minutes? Because Gordon, who was raised in the Bay Area, was celebrating his homecoming by having the game of his life. A trendy (and deserving) pick to make the All-Star team for the first time in his 12-year career, Gordon started his season in absolute style, and the second quarter was all about him. He went on a personal 8-0 run to push the Nuggets lead to double digits, and it peaked at 14 points with just a few minutes remaining in that half as he continued to burn down the nets. He would finish the half with 25 points on just eight shots, including a perfect 7-for-7 from three-point range, as he repeatedly punished Jonathan Kuminga for going under screens.
It was all Denver, but the Dubs found some solace in a strong end to the half. Draymond Green blocked a Murray shot on one end, which led to a Butler layup on the other. There was only one second difference between the game and shot clocks, but the Warriors made it a two-for-one anyway by forcing a steal, and Gary Payton II cleaned up a Butler missed layup to round out the first half. Still, the Nuggets led 70-61.
As they’ve built a reputation for doing, the Warriors burst on the scene in the third quarter. Curry, who had been quite quiet in the first half, nailed a few early threes, and the offense started to hum. The deficit disappeared quickly as Golden State found rhythm and confidence, and put together a 19-6 run to fully turn the game around. Towards the end of that run, Al Horford — who looked absolutely brilliant in his second game with the team — drained a corner three to give the Warriors their first lead since the early moments of the first quarter.
Needless to say, Denver wasn’t going anywhere, and after the teams exchanged blows, Murray made an exceedingly difficult step-back three with less than a second remaining, tying the game at 94 as the third quarter buzzer rang.
The Warriors set the tone early in the fourth quarter with a strong defensive showing, as they attempted to do better in their second crack at the non-Curry, non-Jokić minutes. Rookie second-rounder Will Richard was giving the team tremendous minutes, but no one could match what Gordon had in his bag, as he once again went supersonic on his hometown team. For the second time in the game, Gordon sprang a huge run all by himself, this time a 10-0 burst that flipped a one-point Warriors lead into a nine-point Denver advantage. Finally and mercifully, Richard had the biggest shot of his oh-so-young career, draining a three to temporarily stop the bleeding.
And then came Curry, and with him, the theatrics. The Warriors trailed by seven with less than three minutes remaining, and things were trending in the wrong direction, when Curry worked a foul and made both free throws, making it a five-point game. Just over a minute later, he earned a foul on a three, sank all of his free throws, and cut the deficit to two points with 2:06 remaining. After Jokić split a pair of free throws on the other end, Curry sprang free for a triple to tie the game with 1:24 remaining.
The tension was building, and you could feel a playoff atmosphere even through the TV … and even though it’s only the third day of the regular season. Golden State forced Murray into an isolation on the other end and got the stop, but Curry missed a layup when the Warriors came back down the court. Finally, with 25.7 seconds remaining, the shot that felt like a mini-dagger came, as Gordon was somehow left unguarded, and made his 10th three-pointer of the night. The game had been all about him, and it was hard to fight the feeling that he was destined to lead his team to victory.
Well, hard for me, at least. Not hard for Curry, who cared little for narratives. The Warriors called timeout and Steve Kerr drew up an ATO, and a few seconds later Curry went video game mode for a deep three to tie the game with 21.4 seconds remaining.
In all, Curry had scored the last 13 points for the Dubs, and carried them as they came roaring back into the game.
But they still needed a defensive stop, and they got a critical one. Murray found Jokić in the two-man game — one of the deadliest duos at that action in modern NBA history — but Green has a spectacular defensive recovery to force Jokić into a difficult shot, while Butler and Kuminga flew into the lane to keep any chance of an offensive rebound at bay. The score was 120-120, and we were headed for overtime.
In OT, the Dubs opted for the same lineup that they had closed the game with, and that had worked so well for them: Curry, Butler, Kuminga, Green, and Horford. The first points of the extra frame went to Curry, who nailed a three on the team’s second possession. Denver would retake the lead with just over three minutes remaining, but Horford grabbed it right back with a three. A few seconds later, Curry and Kuminga combined for a swarming steal, which Kuminga easily turned into a transition bucket.
All of the momentum had swung back to the Warriors, but the job wasn’t finished. But in just a few plays, it would be. On the defensive end of the court, Kuminga — who was an absolute star down the stretch — blocked a Jokić shot, giving the ball back to the Warriors. They moved the ball around beautifully, playing hot potato for the bulk of the shot clock, which culminated in a wide-open Butler three with 41 seconds remaining. He drained it, and the building began their celebration.
It still wasn’t over, but while the crowd was screaming, Jokić missed a rushed shot, and Curry grabbed the rebound, dribbled up court to clear, realized that Denver had forgotten about defense, and waltzed all the way to the rim for a game-sealing layup.
All that was left was the window dressing, and when the buzzer rang the Warriors had won 137-131.
