OAKLAND, Calif. – Facing Stephen Curry is always a problem. Great players usually are. The Nuggets knew going into Monday night’s game that Curry – on an incredible hot streak after returning from injury – would be a handful.
And he was.
The two-time MVP gave the Nuggets all they could handle, leading Golden State to a 124-114 victory at Oracle Arena. The loss was the second-straight for the Nuggets, who return home for two games.
The Nuggets issues were threefold – the production from Curry (30 points, nine assists) and Klay Thompson (19 points), transition defense (Golden State had 20 fast break points), and defending at the 3-point line (Golden State had 13 3-pointers).
The combination proved too much to overcome, although the Nuggets were never completely out of the game. But they were never completely back in it, either. They were tied at 69 with 6:57 left in the third quarter, but Golden State went on a 27-12 run to take a 96-81 lead early in the fourth quarter.
From there, the Nuggets battled to get within six at 118-112, but could get no closer as the Warriors closed it out.
Nikola Jokić was brilliant in the loss, collecting a triple-double of 22 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Four Nuggets in total scored at least 20 points – Gary Harris (22), Jamal Murray (21) and Trey Lyles (21) in addition to Jokić.
Christopher Dempsey: christopher.dempsey@altitude.tv and @chrisadempsey on Twitter.