Basket Ball / Sports

Curry, Warriors Hold Off Jokic, Eliminate Nuggets in Game 5

Back in the starting lineup at last, Stephen Curry took over late and brought his team back just as he has so many times during Golden State’s deep postseason runs.

Curry scored 30 points in his return to the starting five and the Warriors beat Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets 102-98 on Wednesday night to win their first-round series in five games.

It has been three years since Curry carried Golden State on a big playoff stage — like those five straight trips to the NBA Finals — but he’s certainly still got it.

“Tonight was just a weird feeling because we hadn’t been there in a while,” said Curry, last season’s NBA scoring champion. “We wanted it so bad, kind of made it a lot more difficult on ourselves. But we still remember how to do it, which is a good feeling.”

Curry scored 11 points during the fourth quarter after the Warriors began the final 12 minutes down by eight. The two-time MVP converted a three-point play with 1:33 left and scored again with 29 seconds remaining to help send the Warriors on to the second round in the Western Conference.

“I was a witness, letting him cook, create plays for him. Try to get him open looks and after that, you know what he does,” Warriors guard Gary Payton II said.

Jokic scored 12 of his 30 points in the final 3:46 and finished with 19 rebounds and eight assists.

The Warriors — thriving with the support from their raucous home crowd in their first close-out playoff game at Chase Center — advanced to play the winner of the Memphis-Minnesota series led 3-2 by the Grizzlies heading into Game 6 on Friday in Minneapolis. The Grizzlies eliminated Golden State in the play-in round last year.

Jokic tied it at 90 on an 18-footer with 2:26 remaining before Payton made a layup moments later. Payton also hit a go-ahead 3-pointer from the corner in front of Denver’s bench with 6:57 left to put Golden State up 86-84. …

Basket Ball / Sports

Jokic, Nuggets avoid sweep with Game 4 victory over Warriors

The Denver Nuggets aren’t fazed.

They realize no team has ever won four elimination games in a single postseason series. They also know they’re the only team in league history to overcome back-to-back 3-1 playoff deficits.

That’s where they find themselves after avoiding a sweep by the Golden State Warriors with a 126-121 win Sunday to send the rough-and-tumble series back to San Francisco.

”Can I say we want them right where we want them? No, but we’re alive,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. ”We live to fight another day.”

Game 5 is Wednesday night.

Although none of the 143 other teams who faced a 3-0 deficit in the NBA playoffs ever bounced back to advance, the Nuggets became the league’s first team ever to overcome 3-1 deficits in consecutive series two years ago when they bounced the Jazz and Clippers in the Orlando bubble.

”The odds are against us,” said MVP favorite Nikola Jokic. ”But we’ve beaten the odds a couple of times, so why not?”

Jokic scored 37 points and fed Will Barton for a 3-pointer from the left corner with 8.3 seconds left after Monte Morris’ short jumper broke a 121-all tie and Austin Rivers stole Otto Porter Jr.’s pass.

It was a reversal of final-minute fortunes for the Nuggets, who faltered down the stretch in a five-point loss in Game 3.

”We felt like it could have been 2-2 if we didn’t drop that last game,” said Rivers, who noted the Nuggets finally matched the Warriors’ physicality, especially down the stretch.

Morris finished with 24 points. He hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter, the most in a quarter by any player in these NBA playoffs.

Aaron Gordon chipped in 21 points and helped stifle Jordan Poole, who came in averaging 28.7 points this series but was held to 11.

Steph Curry led the Warriors with 33 points despite missing 13 of 23 shots, going 3 for 11 from long range and missing four free throws for the first time in his career, whether in the …

Basket Ball / Sports

Warriors’ lethal three-guard lineup overwhelms Denver in Game 2 rout

Here are three takeaways from Game 2 on Monday night, when the Warriors cranked up their crazy show, tossed in a little Harlem Globetrotters flair and rolled to a 126-106 victory over Denver to take a 2-0 series lead:

• The lethal lineup: Once again, head coach Steve Kerr closed the first half with his small-ball, three-guard lineup of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole with forwards Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins.

Once again, this quintet made Denver head coach Michael Malone’s head spin.

The Warriors trailed 43-35 when Thompson replaced Otto Porter Jr. with 6:02 left in the second quarter. Soon, the game exploded into a blur of wide-open driving lanes, crazy passes and acrobatic layups.

Here’s the thing: The Warriors didn’t blitz the Nuggets with an avalanche of 3-point shots. They spread the court and scared the Nuggets with the threat of an avalanche of 3-point shots — and then scurried to the basket, time after crowd-energizing time.

Kerr’s lethal lineup outscored Denver 22-7 over a span of five-plus minutes. The Warriors led 57-50 when Kevon Looney subbed out Green with 46 seconds left before halftime (between Nikola Jokic free throws). One key to the equation, as Green pointed out after Sunday’s practice: This lineup must get stops on defense. And that’s exactly what happened Monday night. He made sure Curry and Co. were engaged defensively — Green tends to demand his teammates’ attention — and those stops sparked the game-turning run.

If the lethal lineup keeps playing defense like this, well, we’re going to see more of it. A lot more.

• Steph the enforcer: Curry added a new skill to his repertoire late in the first quarter when he got in Jokic’s face. No, really, he did.

Blame it all on Gary Payton II. He blocked one of Jokic’s shots in the lane — the third Payton block of Jokic this season, despite their eight-inch height disparity — and animatedly posed in celebration. Ten seconds later, when the Nuggets called timeout, Payton and Jokic crossed

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Basket Ball / Sports

Nikola Jokic becomes 1st player in NBA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in season

Denver’s superstar big man Nikola Jokic makes history as he continues a statistical dominance the league has never seen before.

Nikola Jokic has crossed a statistical threshold not even Wilt Chamberlain has touched.

With a fourth-quarter basket over a double-team in Friday’s win over Memphis, Nikola Jokic became the first player in NBA history to accumulate at least 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a single season.

The crowd recognized the achievement with a standing ovation chants of “M-V-P” for the league’s reigning Kia Most Valuable Player, who accomplished the statistical feat despite taking a blow to the head earlier in the game that drew blood and saw him don a headband.

“Dude is really great at basketball,” teammate Bones Hyland said.

Chamberlain came up short by eight points of that specific combination in the 1967-68 season, the year he led the league in assists. He won the league’s MVP award that season, an honor Jokic is jostling to earn for the second straight season despite impressive campaigns from Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.

“I mean, it’s cool,” Jokic said afterwards. “I like it. Hopefully I can do it a couple of more times.”

Jokic’s late-season surge also saw him become the first player since Chamberlain to register at least 35 points and 12 rebounds in five straight games since Chamberlain.

His big night came after taking an inadvertent elbow from Jaren Jackson Jr. to the right forehead and temple that drew blood in the opening minute.

After having to retreat to the bench twice to stop the bleeding, Jokic donned a red headband for the remainder of the game as he helped the Nuggets (48-33) overcome a shaky start to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Grizzlies.

Jokic was hit in the head on the Grizzlies’ first bucket, a drive by Jackson Jr., and retreated to the bench for treatment. He wasn’t back on the court for long before returning to the sideline for more treatment and a red headband.

“My first …

Basket Ball / Sports

The Spurs always had an answer in wire-to-wire victory over the Nuggets

With the San Antonio Spurs in the middle of a FIGASENI, this was one of the few times this week that they would not be at a rest disadvantage, as they took on a Denver Nuggets team that is not only missing two starters in Michael Porter, Jr. and Jamal Murray (among others), but they are also on the sixth game of a seven-game road trip AND coming off an overtime victory in New Orleans from the night before.

As a result, the Spurs had a chance to take advantage and start a new winning streak, and they did just that. While it wasn’t easy — Denver still has reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, and Aaron Gordon had himself a game — the Spurs led wire-to-wire and had a response every time the Nuggets threatened to take the lead.

It all started with the Spurs continuing their trend of starting strong by hitting 8 of their first 12 shots to get out to a 22-12 lead that they would never relinquish. The Nuggets were able to take advantage in the fast break with some long outlet passes to keep things close, but the Spurs kept attacking. They got nine extra points off seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone and led 37-29 to start the second.

The Spurs kept piling it with a 17-5 run that spanned across the first and second quarters. Devin Vassell returned from injury and exploded onto the scene on both ends of the court (literally), and the Spurs soon found themselves up 60-42 midway through the quarter. However, the Nuggets finally started getting some threes to fall while the Spurs had one of their cold spells, cutting the lead to four on a 16-4 run. Mike Malone then broke out the Hack-a-Poeltl on Jakob Poeltl, and he missed both free throws before quickly being pulled due picking up his 3rd foul. Jokic able to take advantage of his absence for a few easy points, but again, the Spurs responded at the end of the half …

Basket Ball / Sports

Nuggets pick out Trail Blazers in second half to take Game 6 126-115

Nikola Jokic tallied 36 points and Michael Porter Jr. added 26 points, all in the first half, as the Denver Nuggets closed out the Portland Trail Blazers 126-115 in Game 6 to win the series 4-2. Damian Lillard led Portland with 28 points, but struggled from the field. CJ McCollum added 21 points for the Trail Blazers.

Porter Jr. started the game 5-5 from behind the arc to give the Nuggets an early advantage, but Portland found its rhythm to eventually get a 33-29 lead after one.

The Trail Blazers then went on a 16-6 run to open up a 63-53 lead in the second quarter. Portland took a 68-61 lead into halftime and went on a run early in the third quarter to open up a 93-79 advantage, but from there it was all Denver.

Jokic scored 20 points in the third quarter as Denver closed the frame on a 19-8 tear, trailing by three entering the final period. The Nuggets then went on a 21-7 run to open the fourth and never looked like letting up.

Lillard set a playoff record for 3-pointers made in a series, but will face speculation about his future with the franchise after his fifth first-round exit. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic could also be on the way out if the Trail Blazers look to start from scratch again. The Nuggets will face the Suns series in the second round.…