What started out as a blowout ended up being one of the most memorable games of the season, as the Nuggets found themselves with a mountain of a task and dug in instead of going home.
THE RUNDOWN
First Quarter – Starters: Jameer Nelson, Gary Harris, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, Nikola Jokic
The Warriors came out of the gate firing, opening the game with an 11-2 run right off the bat. The Warriors moved the ball quickly and effectively, connecting on a lob in the first few seconds of game-play and hitting a trio of threes, all by Draymond Green, before Mike Malone resorted to calling a timeout.
The timeout did nothing to slow the Warriors down as the Nuggets commit two unforced turnovers and gave up yet another three to Green. Then Andre ‘Benedict’ Iguodala got in on the action and hit his own. The score was now 19-2 and the Nuggets looked to be in for a very, very long night.
Gallinari got to the line and had a chance to end the scoring drought. He missed both. Just one of those nights…
Jusuf Nurkic checked in with 6:37 left in the first. He looked pretty rusty but it was still awesome to watch the Bosnian Beast again. It provided a silver lining to a dreadful first quarter.
Will Barton finally broke the Nuggets scoring drought with 5:52 left. Unfortunately the Nuggets gave a transition basket right back on the other end. Frustrating basketball in the quarter to say the least.
Gallinari got an and-1 but missed yet another free throw for his third in a row, adding on to the theme of the night.
End of first: Warriors up 37-13.
Second Quarter – Starters: Nelson, Randy Foye, Barton, Mike Miller, Darrell Arthur
Malone decided to play his patented comeback lineup, featuring four perimeter players and a single big man who can shoot, in order to mount the comeback. It paid dividends as Arthur got hot and the bench cut the 24-point deficit to just 17 by the time the starters checked back in.
Despite a few doe-eyed possessions from the young players, the Nuggets fought hard and hustled after loose balls. Gallinari was using his size to his advantage, consistently shooting over smaller defenders after setting a pick to get the switch.
Malone elected for the “hack-a-Shaq” strategy (intentionally fouling a poor free throw shooter) on Jason Thompson (60 percent this season). He sent in Jokic simply to foul as Gallinari took a quick minute break and sipped on some Gatorade. Very resourceful of the head coach.
Barton hit an uplifting pull up fade-away to give the Nuggets some much needed momentum going into the locker room.
Despite an absolutely dreadful first quarter, the Nuggets won the second quarter 34-26. Have to love the fight Malone has instilled in these guys. Night and day with the Brian Shaw era.
End of second: Warriors up 63-47.
Third Quarter – Starters: Nelson, Harris, Barton, Gallinari, Faried
Barton started in place of Jokic to spread the floor while Stephen Curry got hit in his shin and did not return for the second half. The Warriors were down to just eight healthy bodies.
Ian Clark played in his place and made sure the Nuggets regretted the decision to not offer him a contract after a great summer league performance (including a game-winning buzzer-beating three). He was a more aggressive scorer than Foye and would definitely be more comfortable running the point position. One has to wonder how this squad would look with Clark on the roster as opposed to Foye.
Gallinari put the team on his back, scoring possession after possession and making plays all over the court.
He was 9-14 for 22 points through the first three quarters and was an absolutely vital part of the Nuggets rally that brought the deficit down to just 13 points. The Nuggets had won two quarters to the Warriors’ one.
End of third: Warriors up 90-77.
Fourth Quarter – Starters: Nelson, Foye, Barton, Miller, Arthur
The Nuggets continued to play hard while the Warriors were getting run ragged. Denver slowed chiseled the 13 point lead down to a mere 4 points that lasted an eternity.
Finally after some grinding defensive possessions, Barton forced a steal and threw down an absolutely MONSTER jam to bring the once 21-2 score to a single possession game with just 34.5 seconds left in the game.
The Nuggets now had to get one last stop in order to even have a chance to tie the game:
After the clutch stop, the Nuggets had one final chance in the game:
End of regulation: 102-102
Overtime – Starters: Nelson, Harris, Barton, Gallinari, Faried
The Nuggets looked exhausted but luckily this is where Gallinari’s ability to draw fouls paid off. The Nuggets continued to lock it down on defense and looked like a team obsessed with winning and turning this former blowout into the Warriors’ first home loss.
Faried was monstrous in overtime as he played like a man possessed, going after every loose ball like his life depended on it.
Unfortunately his reckless style of play got himself injured in the waning minute of overtime. It looked pretty bad and had Faried hiding his face with a towel while EMTs attended to him. Terrible sight for Nuggets fans as the team was looking to finally get healthy.
It essentially ended Denver’s chances as Barton throws up a tough layup and the Warriors easily rebounded a ball that the Manimal surely would have kept alive.
Fortunately Klay Thompson splits his free throws giving the Nuggets one last chance down three with just 6.4 seconds left.
Barton takes an extremely tough three and clanks it off the rim.
Final: Warriors win 111-108.
WHERE/WHEN
ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA | Jan. 2nd | Regular Season Game 34 (12-22)
TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
The first quarter set the tone for the night when the Warriors started the game on a 21-2 run but the fourth quarter turned the game around as the Nuggets never gave up and fought hard, mounting a late-game comeback and managing to force overtime, holding the Warriors to a mere 12 points in the fourth quarter at their own arena.
STAR OF THE GAME
The star of the game was the sorely missed leader of the team, Gallinari. He put the team on his back where the Nuggets would normally struggle scoring and was a consistent source of points all night long. He poured in 24 points on 9-18 shooting. He also had a knack of making plays when they were needed.
PLAYS OF THE GAME
Barton steals the ball and throws down an absolutely MONSTER jam to bring the Nuggets deficit down to just two:
Excellent Nuggets ball movement leads to a Gallinari and-1 slam:
Gallinari pulls off a sweet spin move from the post for a dunk:
BY THE NUMBERS
NBA.com
Great rebounding numbers for the Nuggets as they dominated the glass gobbling up 52 boards and a whopping 24 offensive rebounds. The extra 24 possessions played an absolutely crucial role in the comeback.
Poor shooting numbers for Barton as he had a rare off-game at the worst possible time. Still, Barton made some huge plays and if anyone deserves a poor shooting night it’s him.
LASTING IMPRESSION
The Nuggets have to be proud of how they fought back in the face of adversity and Malone is surely proud of his squad. If there’s one thing to love about Malone it’s how hard he has the Nuggets playing every single game, despite what the scoreboard reads.
The injury to Faried is disheartening to say the least in the midst of what was an amazing game for him, stay tuned to BSNDenver to get an update on his status.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Nuggets will fly to Denver tonight and prepare to get revenge on a Trailblazers team that beat them in Portland on Wednesday. Tip off is at the Pepsi Center, 7:00 p.m. MT.
