It looked like one of his worst games of the season, but Andrew Wiggins came through when it mattered.
Down two points with three minutes remaining, Wiggins found himself wide open in the corner for a 3-pointer. It’s a shot Wiggins has hit at an insane clip this season, yet just 30 seconds before he had bricked the very same shot, the latest disappointment in what looked like an evening to forget.
But Wiggins pulled the trigger and nailed it. His third field goal of the night. Warriors up one.
On the next possession, Stephen Curry missed a 3. Wiggins raced from the corner to snatch the rebound in the middle of the key, surrounded by Nuggets players. He dished it to Jordan Poole who made one of the craziest layups you’ll ever see. Warriors up 3.
The moment proved to be a turning point. After trading punches all game, the Warriors would never trail again, needing a clutch Curry layup and Draymond Green strip of Jokic to seal the deal.
It was a thrilling capper to a thrilling game in which the Warriors took the Nuggets’ best punch, and still beat them in Denver, 118-113, to go up 3-0 in the series, a deficit that has never been overcome in NBA history.
Here are three takeaways:
“Kill switch” lineup comes through again, time to start with it
So the experiment worked for two games.
Thursday proved to be a tipping point for the strategy of bringing Stephen Curry off of the bench, a decision the point guard had made along with Steve Kerr before the series, in order to minimize long stretches of resting due to his minutes restriction.
Yet the third quarter exposed a flaw in the Warriors’ starting five without Curry, especially vs. an elite center.
Simply put, Jokic dominated Kevon Looney to open the second half. In three and a half minutes, Jokic made a shot, assisted on a 3 and was fouled twice by Looney. It was clear that every time he touched the ball, the Warriors were in trouble. It led to Curry being subbed in with 8:22 remaining in the quarter.
The Looney and Green lineup also bogged down the offense. During that three and a half minute stretch, Golden State was outscored 10-2.
Interestingly, when Curry was on the floor, the Warriors’ best lineup (Curry, Poole, Klay Thompson, Wiggins, Draymond Green) was far less effective than it was in Games 1 and 2. Some of that had to do with Denver being more engaged on defense, and Warriors’ general sloppiness. Some of it had to do with Wiggins who finished with just 9 points, and coasted until the end. The lineup was -6 in the first half and -5 in the third quarter.
Ultimately, the Warriors got it done late, going +3 in the final five minutes. Still, Thursday showed that the lineup isn’t necessarily going to be an automatic killer every time.
What seems to be automatic, however, are the performances of Curry, Thompson and Poole. Again all three were excellent, dropping 27, 26 and 27 respectively. Poole now has 30, 29 and 27 in his first three playoff games, and has 86 points on 42 shots in the series.
As long as the Warriors have all three players rolling, they are going to be in a position to win every night.
The Warriors also got enough contributions from the bench to stave off the undermanned Nuggets.
Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr. were immense. The Nuggets plan to give Payton the “Tony Allen Treatment” backfired in the first half, when the young point guard knocked down three open 3-pointers. He finished +10. Porter was a jack of all trades and did some decent fill in work on Jokic when the Warriors went to a zone defense. He was a game best +16.
Nuggets’, Jokic’s best punch
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention how significantly the Nuggets brought it on Thursday. Denver probably played as well as they can in their current form, something that will make the loss that much tougher to swallow.
The Nuggets shot 50% from the field and 42.3% from 3. They won the rebounding battle 44-30. Their MVP, Nikola Jokic, was tremendous, dropping 37 points to go along with 18 rebounds and five assists. Much of the time he did this while being guarded by Draymond.
Somehow it still wasn’t enough. The Warriors strategy to not double Jokic was put to the test with other role players stepping up, including a much needed 18 points by Aaron Gordon. But he remained the only Nugget other than Jokic to score more than 15 points, and Jokic’s low assist total is an indicator that the Warriors’ strategy is still working.
Once again, the game was defined by Denver’s inability to stop the Warriors, even though they created 16 turnovers that kept the game close for 48 minutes.
In the end, the Warriors have three of the best offensive players in the league and the Nuggets do not. Even when they bring their A game, it’s too big a disadvantage to overcome.
Two scares
At least for now, it looks like the Warriors dodged two bullets on Thursday night — both in the third quarter.
First it was Draymond Green, who appeared to turn his ankle when contesting a shot at the rim. He stayed on the ground for a while and limped to the Warriors bench after they called timeout. Thankfully, he stayed in the game and didn’t appear compromised.
An even scarier one came a few minutes later, when Jordan Poole was left wincing on the floor after landing on his left (non-shooting) elbow. Poole went to the bench immediately and had the entire forearm wrapped while he sat.
Ultimately, Poole returned to the floor and looked like himself. Crisis once again averted.
Both players seemed to finish the game strong, and at this point there is no indication either will have an issue being available for Game 4 on Sunday.