We knew there’d be that game that Stephen Curry goes off, but we didn’t expect every member of the Golden State Warriors to combust in game two. Golden State shot 64% in the 131-117 game two victory over the Nuggets to knot up the series at 1-1.
If you want a real quick explanation of why the Nuggets lost their first home game after winning 27-straight in the Pepsi Center dating back to the regular season.. the best way you could sum it up it is to say that Golden State “Out-Nuggets’ed” the Nuggets.
The Warriors had 14 fast-break points to the Nuggets’ 6, and many of that had to do with the fact that Denver not the chance to run. Golden State shot so well, that it completely threw Denver off their game, as they couldn’t run the fast-break on Golden State’s misses, as there weren’t many.
Leading the way for Golden State, Curry had 30 points on 13-23 shooting, much improved from his 19 points in game one where he started the game 0-9 from the field. Not just Curry, but the entire Golden State team really pulled the “play a man down” aspect, playing the rest of the playoffs without David Lee. “We’re a resilient team. We’ve said that all year”, Curry said. “One guy goes down, another has to step up.” Jarrett Jack had 25 points, Harrison Barnes had 24, and Klay Thompson had 21. So a few different guys stepped up for Golden State.
As for the Nuggets, what much more can you do when the opposition is as red hot as Golden State was? Well, probably play better defense. The Nuggets starters combining for a -75 +/- had a lot to do with the Warriors starters shooting lights out, but when Golden State plays small, you’d expect Denver to take advantage in the paint, where they were No. 1 in the NBA. But instead, the Nuggets bigs of Koufos, McGee, and Faried combined for 11 points, and Denver instead tried to out-jump-shoot Golden State, which turned out to be unsuccessful.
Denver has lost their home court advantage, but will now try to rebound in game three in Golden State on Friday. One has to hope that the Warriors shouldn’t be able to shoot that lights out for the second game in a row. But with the likes of Stephen Curry and company, I wouldn’t hold out hope for the Warriors to cool off.
Denver needs to regroup and get back to fundamentals, as they seemed out of wack on defense. If Golden State got hot beyond the arc, Denver would over defend the three ball and then get ran over in the paint, and vice versa.
Don’t fret just yet, Nuggets fans. Hopefully George Karl can kick his team into gear when they head to SoCal to rebound from this loss and get back on track in the series.
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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.
