Warriors outlast Nuggets as Curry answers Gordon’s 50-point barrage
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SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry erased Aaron Gordon’s career night with a pair of late three-pointers and 42 total points, lifting the Golden State Warriors to a 137-131 overtime victory against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday at Chase Center.
Gordon drilled his 10th three with 26 seconds left in regulation, putting Denver in front 122-119 and capping a stunning performance of 50 points on 17-of-21 shooting, including 10-for-11 from long range. Out of a timeout, Curry responded five seconds later, stepping into a semi-contested 34-footer to knot the game. He opened the extra period with another triple and sealed the result at the foul line.
“The bigger the moment, the more he rises,” Draymond Green said of Curry, whose 42 points came on 14-of-25 shooting with six made threes in his 17th home opener.
Gordon’s outburst featured eight consecutive threes to start the night, leaving him one make shy of the NBA record for most to begin a game. The 12-year veteran had never hit more than seven triples in a contest and became just the 17th player to reach double-digit threes in a loss. “Ridiculous,” Curry said. “Whatever he did this summer, it worked.”
Denver head coach David Adelman could only marvel at Curry’s late heroics: “The shot he made to tie it, it’s a shot that only he can make.”
Untried jumbo lineup closes the door
Golden State’s pivotal adjustment came during a late fourth-quarter timeout. Assistant coaches Terry Stotts and Chris DeMarco urged head coach Steve Kerr to finish with a bigger unit of Curry, Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga, Green and newly acquired Al Horford — a combination that had never practiced together.
“Where are we going to score?” Kerr recalled asking before agreeing to the change. “But they reminded me we have Steph and Jimmy, and they’ll find a way.”
The supersized group erased a seven-point deficit over the final 3:50 of regulation and outscored Denver by six in overtime. “I did think that was a possibility to be a closing lineup — or a starting lineup, or a middle-of-the-game lineup,” Green added.
Early standings shift
The Warriors improved to 2-0, grabbing momentum in their bid to join Denver’s tier atop the Western Conference. The Nuggets, now 0-1, return home to host the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night.
Source: ESPN
