The Warriors won 125-101 Thursday night in Denver, but the victory over the Nuggets might’ve been the secondary outcome of the game.
Steve Kerr finally played JaVale McGee early in the game and the results were eye-opening. The Warriors went on an 11-0 run as soon as the 7-footer checked in and the team scored a season-high 38 points in the opening frame.
The athleticism and surge of energy McGee provided to the lineup is something they’ve lacked from the big man position to start the season. McGee had been reduced to a garbage time role to start the year, but his playing time is obviously going to increase after his strong performance against one of his former teams.
“Oh my gosh, it was so easy,” McGee told Jim Barnett on the CSN broadcast when asked how he liked playing with the starters. “Everyone’s focused on the other four.”
If McGee was the hidden gem in Denver, Draymond Green continued to be the rock.
Like we wrote earlier in the day, when Green is aggressive with his scoring, so many things open up. He scored just 13 points but made 3/4 of his threes against the Nuggets. The Warriors forced 8 steals in the first quarter, three of them coming from Green’s paws. He added 9 rebounds and 5 assists. We’ll keep repeating this: he’s playing at an extremely high level.
A night after letting the Mavericks slide back into the game in the third quarter, the Warriors decimated the Nuggets in the third. Curry went on a 15-point tear in the quarter and ended with 33 points on a 7/13 clip from three. He and Kevin Durant continue to coexist very comfortably together.
But Durant’s streak of scoring 20 points or more in 72 straight games, which was tied with Michael Jordan, ended in Denver. He finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds and was pulled late in the fourth quarter by Kerr. Wilt Chamberlain held the record with 126 games with 20 or more points in a row.
“I wasn’t going to mess with the basketball gods,” Kerr said.
Klay Thompson found a groove in the third quarter and scored 19 points on 7/14 shooting from the field. He hit 3/4 from three, too, carrying over his slump-buster from the Dallas game on Wednesday.
Considering Denver is the top rebounding team in the league, and this was game No. 2 of a back-to-back, this was a good test for the Warriors to pass. Golden State ran the Nuggets out the building, played with energy and hit 14/30 from downtown.
Go take a Friday off, Warriors. You guys deserve it.