The Denver Nuggets live to fight another day, staying to beat the Golden State Warriors, 126-121, on Sunday to bring back Game 5 in San Francisco. Nikola Jokic was the orchestrator in the attack, as usual, scoring 37 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but received a lot of help, with huge plays from Monte Morris, Aaron Gordon and Will Barton down.
After trailing by 17 points, the Warriors made a valiant comeback behind 33 points from Stephen Curry and 32 from Clay Thompson. They struggled to execute at both ends after Draymond Green fouled just over two minutes to the end of the fourth quarter. Andrew Wiggins added 20 points, six rebounds, two stolen balls and two blocks for the Golden State.
Outside of Jokic, the story was the Nuggets’ hot shot. As a team, they made 15 against 31 from a 3-point range led by Maurice, who made five of his seven long-distance attempts. Rookie Bones Highland scored three consecutive three points during a long period in the second quarter, and Will Barton scored 3 from the corner with eight seconds left.
The Warriors will now be looking to advance to the second round in front of their home crowd in Game 5 on Wednesday as the Nuggets try to extend the series.
Here are some excerpts from Sunday’s game, followed by a summary of our live updates.
1. Jokic receives help
Jokic averaged 29.3 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in the first three games of the series, but has yet to receive enough help from the supporting squad to win. That changed on Sunday as almost every Nuggets role player stepped up with one or two clutch strikes – first to help build a big lead, then to fight the return of the Warriors. The biggest contributor was Maurice, who shot against Thompson and made all five of his threes in the first eight minutes of the third quarter.
He also made one of the biggest blows of the game in the fourth quarter when the Warriors decided to play box and one, with Kevan Looney against Jokic to prevent him from playing. After receiving a screen from Jokic, Maurice realized that instead of dropping out, Luni stayed with Jokic, leaving the environment wide open. Morris reached his seat and hit a strong flower to give the Nuggets a two-point lead.
At the end of the fourth quarter, Gordon made a mid-range jump over Green, and of course Barton knocked the clincher out of Jokic’s pass to drive a nail into the Warriors’ coffin.
If the Nuggets were to stay in this series, they needed role-playing players to step up. They did this on Sunday and imposed game 5.
2. The pool party breaks down
That should have happened, but after averaging 28.7 points in his first three playoff games of his career, Jordan Poole finally landed. He fights up to 11 points in a 3 to 10 shot, including 1 of 5 from a range of 3 points to continue with three turns. However, he was effective as a facilitator, giving nine assists.
“They were more physical with him tonight … That’s to be expected,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “Teams will start throwing a lot of things at him, including his physical shape, trying to get a little under his skin.”
The Warriors are a little more restrained in attack if Poole doesn’t play out of his mind and it will be interesting to see – in this series and possibly in the next – whether the Nuggets have developed something like a plan to keep Golden State’s newest star a secret. .
3. The Joker or the Thinker?
We all know how much Jokic affects the game when he is on the court, but in match 4 he figured out a way to help his team even when he was on the bench. After Jokic was out for defensive play, the Warriors faced a decisive entry game, trailing by two, 33.5 seconds to go. When the players came out on the court, Jokic stood up from the bench and seemed to shout “This is a lobby” to his teammates, gesturing with his hand.
Of course, the Warriors tried to get him into Wiggins, and Austin Rivers made a great game to break him and give the Nuggets possession.
Kerr said after the match that they would strive for a quick two-on-one game, but that he “would like this call back”. Maybe it was the Nuggets’ game – definitely the best defense game – and they can partly thank their MVP, who wasn’t even on the court when it happened.
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