Even though their 22-point second quarter lead was cut to five at one point in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets held on for their bounce-back 107-100 victory over the Warriors in their do or die game five to bring the series to 3-2.
Since game one in this best-of-7 series, the Nuggets had not played that Mile high magic type basketball that got them the three seed in the West, but that all changed on Tuesday night when the Nuggets had no choice but to get back to their style of play to avoid elimination at the hands of the Warriors.
Coming into this game, the Warriors have been shooting absolutely lights out. Behind All-Star snub Stephen Curry, Golden State had been shooting the highest percentage in the 2013 playoffs. But it was high time the Nuggets respond, and they did just that in game five.
The Nuggets didn’t waste any time, getting off to a 36-22 lead at the end of the first quarter by forcing the Warriors to play to their pace early on in this contest. They would have a 20-point lead at halftime, mainly due to the fact that more than just Ty Lawson contributed to the box score. Wilson Chandler had 16 points to lead the Nuggets at halftime, while Iggy and Ty both had 11 points.
Even though Curry was held to single digit points in the first half, you knew that the big lead wouldn’t hold up as Golden State has proven that they can get hot at any time in this series. And with a lead that was once 22 points, was cut to just 5 in the fourth quarter. Denver played stellar defense with very few lapses in judgement early on, but started to get lazy which then gave the Warriors the opportunity to get back in the game. But Denver would hold on to get the victory even though the Warriors made it interesting with 4:43 remaining in the fourth quarter when they cut the lead to just 5.
So now this series is 3-2 in favor of the Warriors, headed back to Oakland for Game 6. If I’m George Karl, I’m not too happy with my squad letting the Warriors get back into this game late, especially with another lapse in the third quarter, but at least the Nuggets had a big lead to lose. That big lead was there because of their dominant play in the first half in which the fans of Denver saw the real Nuggets for the first time since game one. The Nuggets forced turnovers, got out on the fast-break, and scored points in paint, for which they had 50 tonight. Bottom line, they played how they’ve played successfully all season long. If the Nuggets play like they did tonight for the rest of this series, then there shouldn’t be a single doubt that they can win this, given that Golden State doesn’t come out and shoot 65% or better in game six or seven.
Nonetheless, This is a completely new series. Why? Because Denver is finally playing their style of game again. The worst thing about losing three straight to the Warriors was definitely the fact that Denver has been taken out of their style of play ever since their game one victory at home. The Warriors have got to be worried that they allowed the Nuggets to gain confidence in their game once again, and that Golden State is one loss away from playing a game seven on the road. That’s a whole lot of pressure that I’m sure Warriors head coach Mark Jackson doesn’t like hanging on his young team. Sure, the Nuggets now have to go on the road to force this series to continue, but there’s a lot of confidence to be had in what we saw out of the Nuggets.
Game Six will be in Golden State on Thursday at 8:30 MST.
“It’s not over till it’s over.”
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Anthony Rodriguez
Anthony is the Founder, Administrator, Editor and Publisher of Lightning Rod Sports. Originally from California, Anthony has been raised in the Rocky Mountains and Denver area for most of his life. Anthony works with the Emmy-winning student-run T.V. newscast at MSU Denver, The Met Report, as the Assistant General Manager, formerly the Sports Producer, as well as Lead Anchor and Production Assistant. He is currently the Play-by-Play Announcer, Color Commentator, and Production Assistant for the Metro State Broadcast Network, and calls games for Metro State soccer, basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball as a “Voice of the Roadrunners.” In addition to that work with the Metro State Broadcast Network, Anthony also hosts the monthly 30-minute magazine show called "The Roadrunner Review" which airs on Altitude Sports and Entertainment. He hosts the bi-weekly "KMet Sports Show" on KMET Radio at MyMetMedia.com/KMETSportsShow. He is also the Founder, Administrator, Editor, and Columnist for his own Denver Sports website, LightningRodSports.com. Anthony is also part of the Social Media team at Examiner.com, and has worked with the Altitude Radio Network for the Avalanche and Nuggets. Anthony is a former Producer for Mile High Sports Radio, as well as a former Sports-Talk show host on the LightningRod Radio Network.
