The Denver Nuggets live to fight another day, beating the Golden State Warriors 126-121 on Sunday to force a Game 5 in San Francisco. Nikola Jokic was the usual orchestrator on offense with 37 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but he received plenty of help, with great plays from Monte Morris, Aaron Gordon and Will Barton down the stretch.
From up to 17 points behind, the Warriors made a brave comeback behind 33 points from Stephen Curry and 32 from Klay Thompson. However, they struggled to play at either end after Draymond fouled Green in the fourth quarter with just under two minutes left. Andrew Wiggins added 20 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks for Golden State.
Outside of Jokic, the story was the Nuggets’ hot shoot. As a team, they went 15 to 31 from within 3-point range, led by Morris, who made five of his seven tries from distance. Rookie Bones Hyland made three straight 3-pointers during a big stretch in the second quarter and Will Barton made the game-winning 3 from the corner with eight seconds left.
The Warriors will now look to advance to the second round in Game 5 in front of their home crowd on Wednesday as the Nuggets look to extend the streak.
Here are a few takeaways from Sunday’s game, followed by a recap of our live updates.
1. Jokic gets help
Jokic averaged 29.3 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in the first three games of the series, but he had yet to garner enough support from the supporting cast to eke out a win. That changed Sunday, when pretty much every Nuggets roleplayer showed up with a clutch shot or two — first to build the big lead, then to stave off the Warriors’ comeback. The biggest contributor was Morris, who played shot for shot with Thompson and scored all five of his 3-pointers in the first eight minutes of the third quarter.
He also made one of the game’s biggest shots in the fourth quarter when the Warriors decided to play a box-and-one, with Kevon Looney on Jokic to prevent him from making a game. After getting a screen from Jokic, Morris realized that instead of dropping, Looney stayed with Jokic, leaving the middle wide open. Morris got into his seat and hit a hard floater to give the Nuggets a two-point lead.
Gordon also made a clutch mid-range jump over Green late in the fourth quarter, and of course Barton knocked down the clincher from a Jokic pass to drive the nail into the Warriors’ coffin.
If the Nuggets were going to stay in this series, they needed the RPGs to step up. They did that on Sunday and forced a Game 5.
2. The poole party will crash
It had to happen, but after averaging 28.7 points in his first three career playoff games, Jordan Poole finally came down to earth. He fought his way up to 11 points in 3-on-10 shooting, including 1-of-5 from 3-point range, to go with three turnovers. However, he was effective as a presenter, dishing out nine assists.
“They were more physical with him tonight… That was to be expected,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “Teams will start throwing a lot of things at him, including physicality, and try to get under his skin a bit.”
The Warriors are a little more controllable on offense when Poole isn’t going haywire, and it’ll be interesting to see — in this series and possibly the next — if the Nuggets have developed some sort of blueprint for keeping the Golden State’s newest star under closure.
3. The Joker or the Thinker?
We all know how much Jokic affects the game when he’s on the pitch, but in Game 4 he found a way to help his team even when he was on the bench. With Jokic out of the game for defensive reasons, the Warriors faced a crucial inbounds game going two down with 33.5 seconds left. As the players entered the pitch, Jokic rose from the bench and appeared to shout to his teammates, “It’s a compliment,” gesturing an exaggerated motion with his hand.
In fact, the Warriors tried to throw it to Wiggins and Austin Rivers made a tremendous play to break it and give the Nuggets possession.
Kerr said after the game that they are aiming for a quick two-on-one, but that he “would like to have that callback of the game”. It was perhaps the game of the game for the Nuggets – definitely the best defensive play – and they have some credit to their MVP, who wasn’t even on the court when it happened.