The Warriors opened 2016 on a winning note, earning a 111-108 overtime victory over the visiting Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.
GAME LEADERS
The Warriors opened 2016 on a winning note, earning a 111-108 overtime victory over the visiting Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. Draymond Green led all scorers with 29 points to go with 17 rebounds and 14 assists, becoming the first player in Warriors history to record back-to-back triple-doubles twice in the same season. Klay Thompson added 26 points, while Ian Clark chipped in 15 off the bench. With the victory, the Warriors improve to 31-2 on the season.
As close as the game was at the very end, it began on a quite different note. Stephen Curry connected with Andre Iguodala on an alley-oop on the opening possession, and the Warriors wouldn’t slow down from there. Draymond Green would score the Warriors’ next three baskets, all three-pointers, to kick start a Golden State run that would put the Warriors up 21-2 six minutes into the opening quarter. Will Barton’s layup brought Denver within 31-11 with 2:23 remaining in the frame, but the Warriors responded with a 5-0 run to achieve their largest lead of the game with under a minute left to play. Jameer Nelson’s layup closed the scoring for the quarter and sent the game into the second frame with the Warriors holding a 37-13 advantage.
As the game continued on, however, the Nuggets slowly chipped away and got themselves back into it. A 6-0 Denver run to open the second quarter brought the Nuggets within 37-19. After the Warriors had pushed their lead back to 21 points two minutes later, Nelson sank a three-pointer to begin an 11-4 Nuggets’ burst to cut the deficit to 47-33 with 5:10 left to play. Stephen Curry would make a three-pointer of his own on the ensuing possession, but that turned out to be his last basket of the night, as he was removed from the game soon after due to injury. Golden State, who had entered the game with only nine healthy bodies, was now down to eight players, none of which were the reigning league MVP. The two sides traded baskets for the remainder of the quarter until Will Barton’s jumper sent the game into halftime with the Warriors leading 63-47.
Golden Sate opened the second half on a 13-6 run to push their lead back to 21, but once again, the Nuggets would not go away. Denver would score the next four baskets of the game to cut the deficit to 16 with 6:07 left in the frame. Klay Thompson’s three-pointer put the Dubs up 88-70 with 1:23 remaining in the quarter, but Denver would outscore Golden State 7-2 the rest of the way to send the game into the final quarter of regulation with the Warriors up 90-77.
Denver carried their momentum into the fourth quarter, starting it off on a 7-2 run to pull within 92-84 with 9:22 left to play. The margin would be the same after Ian Clarke’s layup put Golden State up 100-92 with 4:05 left to play, but it would only shrink from there. Denver immediately responded with a 6-0 run to pull within 100-98 with 3:22 remaining in regulation. Klay Thompson’s bank shot on the ensuing possession pushed the Warriors lead to four, but that turned out to be their final points of the quarter. Will Barton stole the ball from Thompson and raced down the court for a dunk to cut the Warriors lead to 102-100 with 34.5 seconds left to play. Then, with 1.7 seconds left, it was Barton again who scored for the Nuggets, sending the game into overtime.
Denver scored the opening two points of the extra period before Draymond Green and Clark combined for back-to-back baskets to regain the lead for Golden State. Kenneth Faried would tie the game at 106-106 on Denver’s next possession, and would tie the game again at 108-108 after Marreese Speights had given the Dubs a short-lived lead just seconds prior. Klay Thompson’s finger roll on the ensuing possession put the Warriors up 110-108 with 15.6 seconds left to play, which turned out to be the winning points of the game. After Thompson split two free throws with less than seven seconds to play, Denver called timeout with a chance to tie the game. However, Will Barton’s shot fell short at the buzzer, sealing a 111-108 overtime victory for Golden State.
With the win, the Warriors advance to 31-2 on the season. They’ll look to keep the momentum going when they host the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night at Oracle Arena.