3:54 p.m. ET
Kendra AndrewsESPN
DENVER — Ahead of Thursday night’s Game 3, Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone vowed to “go down swinging” in the NBA playoffs against the Golden State Warriors while trying to find a fight within his team.
After being beaten in their first two games of round one, the Nuggets put up the biggest fight and life they’ve had in any series, and yet it wasn’t enough as the Warriors clinched a 118-113 win in Denver 3-0 in a row.
“You have to feel that kind of adversity and pressure on the road,” said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “You have to implement it. It’s good for our team to have that experience and to assert themselves because we’ll feel it again, especially on the road.”
Draymond Green added: “When a team is 2-0 down, they come out and give you everything they got in that game 3. You’ve got to take a hit or two, but you lined up well.”
2 relatives
There were several games that could qualify as the game-sealing game for Golden State on Thursday night.
With 34.7 seconds left and the Warriors five ahead, Green forced Nikola Jokic for his fifth turnover of the night – Green’s fourth – when he tipped the ball out of Jokic’s grip as the reigning MVP tried to push him back.
“The first time he dribbled when he hit me, I felt like I still had good inside positioning,” Green said. “And then he took the second one and it was way off his body. I’m already thinking right there, ‘If he takes more dribbling, I’ll stab it.’”
At that moment, Green had five fouls. When asked if that made him nervous, Kerr said, “Yes. But I won’t turn him off.”
Green said he didn’t hesitate to steal and risked getting his sixth foul.
“This is money time,” he said. “Then you have to dig deep. You can’t play the last four minutes of the game because you’re worried about a foul. I compete against Joker. I have to be willing to use all six of my fouls at some point in the game. … But I can’t start playing shy because I pick up my fifth foul.
Although Green has excelled in his defensive role against Jokic this series, he admitted that Jokic “brought the best out of me” in Game 3.
Jokic had his best game of the series Thursday night, finishing with 37 points on 14 of 22 shooting with 18 rebounds, five assists and three steals. With Green at the main defender, Jokic had two turnovers and went off the floor 8-of-13. Overall this series, Jokic has shot 13 of 36 (36%) off the field when guarded by Green, compared to 21 of 30 against any other Warriors defender.
Green also forced six turnovers while defending Jokic. That’s the most turnovers by a player against a single defender this postseason. Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant has committed six turnovers while being guarded by Boston’s Jayson Tatum.
“He has so much confidence defensively,” Kerr said. “He knows how to use his gifts. He’s incredibly fast and strong, and he knows the advantage he has when using his speed and leverage. Jokic is so difficult to handle. He gets where he wants and once he’s in his place, he turns and shoots, he has an incredible touch.”
Thinking about the game that likely sealed the Warriors’ victory in Game 3, Malone said that what comes to mind isn’t Green’s steal, but a game that happened about a minute and 45 seconds earlier.
With the Nuggets trailing 112-111, Stephen Curry pulled up several feet behind the arc for a 3-point shot. It edged out, but as Jeff Green, Will Barton and Monte Morris circled the color for the rebound, the Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins flew in to grab the offensive board.
“That was just one where you play a good defense and the shot gets executed and you kind of get the guys just watching the ball,” Malone said. “And it has to be a ball that we make up in this kind of game.”
Wiggins threw the ball back to Curry, who found a wide open Jordan Poole in the corner. Poole fitted the open shot and ended with a reverse layup instead, giving the Warriors a three-lead with 2:15 to go.
Poole called Wiggins’ rebound a “huge” play.
“We don’t get that bucket if he doesn’t get that rebound,” Poole said. “Wiggs came up huge.”
Wiggins had checked back into the game with 4:27 left, which Kerr said was always part of the game plan. Up until that point in the fourth, Kerr kept Andre Iguodala in the game by making “several good plays in a row.” But as soon as the game changed and the Warriors knew they needed more offense, they went back to Wiggins.
A step that quickly paid off. Wiggins hit a go-ahead 3 with 3:05 left, setting Golden State up for good. Kerr called it the “shot of the game”.
The Warriors also had great performances from Curry, Poole and Klay Thompson, who finished with 27, 27 and 26 points, respectively, becoming the first Warriors trio to each have 25 points in a playoff game since Game 3 of the 2017 NBA -Finals (Curry, Thompson and Durant).
Poole is also the first player in the shot-clock era to average 25 points and an 80% effective field goal percentage in the first three games of a postseason.
“The fun part is seeing Jordan in it for the first time,” Kerr said. “He’s still playing well. This is his third straight playoff game where he did a really great job putting down shots and making plays.”
The Warriors have now won a road game (a league record) in each of their last 24 playoff series, which is every series Curry, Thompson and Green have played together.
“That’s what it’s about,” Green said. “There’s no better feeling than going into an opposing team’s building and silencing the crowd. It doesn’t get much better than that. There’s no better feeling in sport than going into a hostile environment, their crowd into it – – scream, scream – and in the end you win.”