Faried's second-quarter heroics not enough as Warriors blow out Nuggets

6, 23, 12, 4, 12, 0, 3, 15, 6 and now 14. That’s how many minutes Nuggets’ power forward Kenneth has played in each of Denver’s first ten games. With the Nuggets trying to play four big men in a league and era where teams are going small and playing at the most three, Faried’s playing time has fluctuated as coach Michael Malone tries to find the best rotation based on his opponent.

Sometimes Faried is a game-changer, sometimes he’s not, but then there are nights like Denver’s 127-108 loss to the Golden State Warriors where the big man’s game-altering ability shines. The Nuggets didn’t get the win, but Faried’s impact was the big takeaway from Saturday night.

The Nuggets went on a 15-0 run to start the second quarter with the vaunted Faried and Nikola Jokic frontcourt combination that has tortured opponents for the past two seasons and the Warriors didn’t get their first bucket of the second until the seven-minute mark of the quarter on a Kevin Durant three.

Faried rejected Warriors’ rookie Jordan Bell at the rim and converted two alley-oops that ignited a pro Warriors Pepsi Center crowd. With Faried and Jokic on the floor together, the Nuggets were a +15 in the period.

“Kenneth was active, he was aggressive, he was rebounding he was running the floor, he was rolling,” Malone said.

After Golden State opened the game by hitting their first four shots and lead 36-23 after one quarter, Faried’s second-quarter stint got Denver their first lead of the game before the Warriors took a five-point advantage into the half.

But whether it was the back-to-back that saw Denver go toe-to-toe with Miami a night earlier in their 95-94 win or the Nuggets’ current six games in nine night bender, Golden State blitzed Denver in the third quarter. The Warriors started the frame by hitting 15 of their first 19 shots from the field and were all of a sudden up by 27 by quarter’s end. Malone waved the white flag by inserting the seldom-used Trey Lyles and Darrell Arthur into the game at the 3:10 mark of the quarter with the Nuggets trailing by 21.

“We looked like a very tired team,” Malone said of the third quarter. “Obviously, this was our sixth game in nine nights and its a part of the NBA. We can’t use that as an excuse but that definitely played into it I believe.”

“They blitzed us and we didn’t respond,” Will Barton said from his locker postgame.

In total, the Warriors shot 50-90 (55.6 percent) from the field and 18-39 (46.2 percent) from distance. Stephen Curry scored 22 points and finished a game-high +44 in 30 minutes. Kevin Durant chipped in 25 on a casual 9-13 shooting.

For the Nuggets, Faried finished with nine points and five rebounds in 14 minutes. Barton scored a team-high 21 points off the bench on 7-13 shooting. No Denver starter scored in double-figures as Malone didn’t go back to his first five after the Warriors’ initial third-quarter run until Jamal Murray entered the game mid-way through the fourth. Nikola Jokic scored eight points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out three assists to go with two steals.

As a team, Denver shot just 6-23 from three.