The Warriors eliminate the Nuggets behind the fourth-quarter heroics of Steph Curry and Gary Payton II.
Steph Curry and Gary Payton II close the Nuggets out in crunch time after an ugly third quarter, the Warriors survive DeMarcus Cousins and Nikola Jokic's interior barrage, and more.
With the game tied at 90 points apiece and a little over two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Steph Curry got a high screen just inside halfcourt with an unusual roll man/dance partner — Gary Payton II. Nikola Jokic, who was tasked with guarding GPII, showed and shadowed Curry while he took a dribble to the left and then threw a one-handed bounce pass to Payton, who rumbled down the lane past Draymond Green’s defender, Jeff Green, who loomed inside the paint sagging off of Draymond, for a layup that put the Warriors up by two points.
Read that paragraph again. Try to make sense of it, or perhaps, explain it to your past self circa October of 2021 when GPII was fighting for a roster spot in training camp. The Warriors’ established veterans wanted Avery Bradley on the roster over Payton. This was public info! Andre Iguodala even said this about Bradley during training camp:
When Gary Payton II finally got a chance to play in the preseason after recovering from a hernia injury, he made himself obviously worthy of the roster spot over Bradley. When GPII got little morsels of final possession end-of-quarter stints early in the season, he would clown offensive players and cruelly take the ball away from them. When GPII finally got rotation minutes, he stayed in the rotation for the rest of the season and only missed games when injuries prevented him from playing. In tonight’s game, GPII forced his way into closing minutes with typically excellent defense and huge, clutch shotmaking. You can see a compilation of some of his finest moments from the fourth quarter — many of which involve him as the roll man in PNR’s — below:
The other hero of tonight’s game was Steph Curry, who overcame an ugly first three quarters where he hesitated and shuffled his feet on several open looks, which in turn became bricks, turned the ball over five times, and nearly lost the ball at least another five times with loose dribbles and reckless passes out of double teams. In the final minutes of the game, Curry put the team on his back and sought out weak defenders to drive past over and over again. But my favorite Steph play of the night was one where he did not dial up a high pick and roll, but instead, simply took Aaron Gordon off of the dribble:
Curry finished the game with 30 points on 10/22 shooting from the field, 5/11 shooting from deep, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 turnovers, and 2 steals. As for the rest of the Warriors? Well, it was pretty rough. Some assorted notes and thoughts:
In the first half, Draymond Green had taken as many shots as Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole and was 1/6 from the field. Green’s drives to the hoop were reckless and poorly aimed and late in the game, he nearly cost the Warriors a bucket with Simmons-esque reluctance to shoot at the rim. But in spite of that, Green finished the game with 11 points, 6 assists, 3 blocks, a steal, and uh... only 2 rebounds. Green made a huge three in the third quarter when the Warriors were on the ropes and late in the game, the intensity of his defense very clearly spooked the non-Jokic Nuggets.
Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole both had pretty rough nights on offense. Thompson shots 5/13 from the field and 1/6 from three but finished the game with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, and a block. During the third quarter, Thompson was even tasked with guarding Nikola Jokic in a box-and-one scheme that completely stymied the Nuggets’ offense. Poole on the other hand, struggled on defense, picked up 5 fouls and only made 3 of his 10 shots. He did, however, make some nice reads in pick and rolls with Gary Payton II.
Back to the subject of GPII — his 6 made threes in this series were absolutely huge. They were also pretty much the only threes any bench player on the Warriors hit (Steph Curry is obviously not a bench player) in this series. Otto Porter Jr. hit just two threes in this series on 13 attempts, but he did hit a huge one today in the fourth quarter. OPJ’s interior defense and work on the glass were also essential components of the Warriors’ suffocating fourth-quarter defense.
Nikola Jokic, who finished the game with 30 points, 19 rebounds, 8 assists, a steal, 2 blocks, and 6 turnovers, was spectacular tonight. I haven’t written nearly enough words about him over the course of this series because… well, I’m mostly focused on the Warriors’ lineups, but he deserves kudos for his performance tonight and this loss should not tarnish his MVP case. Jokic struggled at points tonight against Kevon Looney and later in the game came up lame with a hamstring issue, but went into hyperdrive in crunch time and made the Warriors fight like hell to close the Nuggets out.
Now, the Warriors will wait for the first-round series between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies to play out. If the Grizzlies close out the Timberwolves tomorrow night, the Warriors would open the series in Memphis for a Sunday afternoon game. For my sanity’s sake, I’ll cross my fingers and hope for a Timberwolves’ win tomorrow to extend this series to 7 games.
Rotation watch:
1st Q:
12:00 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Green: 0-0, tie game.
8:22 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/Green/Looney: 10-11, Nuggets lead.
4:10 — Curry/GPII/Poole/OPJ/Looney: 22-17, Warriors lead.
In the first three minutes of the game, Aaron Gordon went to the free-throw line three times and drew fouls on Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins. Gordon’s aggression slowed down what might have otherwise been an explosive start for the Warriors’ Death Lineup, who got pretty much anything they wanted on offense. The problem, however, was that the Warriors missed easy shots — Steph Curry bricked an easy layup and later missed a wide-open corner three — and were loose with the ball. The Warriors only turned the ball over once before Kevon Looney entered the game for Jordan Poole at the 8:22 mark, but were frankly, quite lucky not to rack up several turnovers as Draymond Green and Steph Curry were particularly careless with the ball.
The Warriors went on a mini-run after Kevon Looney checked into the game and their defense tightened up. Looney was excellent in his first-quarter minutes, particularly when he was matched up against Nikola Jokic. As you’d expect, Jokic did occasionally get the better of him — you can see one of those plays below — but by my count, Looney contested at least 5 of Jokic’s shots and didn’t let the likely MVP get any easy shots.
Of course, one of the most obvious changes in tonight’s game was Steve Kerr’s substitution patterns. Jordan Poole going to the bench early allowed him to come back into the game at the 4:10 mark alongside Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II. Steph Curry finished the quarter, as is customary, but Steve Kerr’s new rotations allowed for Poole, Green, Thompson, and Looney to all get at least 7 minutes in the quarter. Notably absent in the quarter were Andre Iguodala, who is out for at least a week because of a cervical disc injury in his neck, and Nemanja Bjelica.
2nd Q:
12:00 — Poole/GPII/Klay/OPJ/Green: 30-25, Warriors lead.
8:58 — Poole/GPII/Klay/OPJ/Looney: 34-30, Warriors lead.
6:47 — Curry/GPII/Wiggins/OPJ/Loon: 39-35, Warriors lead.
5:27 — Curry/Klay/Wiggins/Kuminga: 41-38, Warriors lead.
1:49 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Kuminga/Green: 45-46, Nuggets lead.
0:23 — GPII/Thompson/Wiggins/Kuminga/Green: 48-48, tie game.
Nemanja Bjelica’s first-quarter absence hinted at the possibility of second-unit minutes for Jonathan Kuminga, who played 9 productive minutes in game 4, but Steve Kerr opted to put Draymond Green at the center to match up with DeMarcus Cousin. When Green subbed out at the 8:58 mark, that second unit had tallied a -1 margin in about three minutes, which is totally fine! Cousins scored 5 points in those minutes, including a post-up on Green who avoided committing any fouls in these minutes, but three of Boogie’s points came on a tough and fairly low-percentage three and he got dragged into actions repeatedly, including this easy layup by Jordan Poole:
Kevon Looney got rare second-unit minutes in this re-configured rotation and immediately got an easy dunk because the Warriors dragged — guess who? — DeMarcus Cousins into another action with Jordan Poole. When Poole came out at the 6:47 mark, Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins checked in, as did Nikola Jokic. Curry immediately bricked a fairly easy floater, got his own rebound, and then tossed the ball crosscourt right into the hands of Bones Hyland. But on the very next possession, Curry hit a rather calming midrange jumper out of a DHO with Kevon Looney to bring his point total to 10 points on 4/10 shooting, a number that superficially obscures how rough Steph had looked for most of the half.
At the 5:27 mark, Jonathan Kuminga entered the game for the very first time. On his very first possession of the game, this happened:
Kuminga got another aerial bucket in the paint a few possessions later and defended Nikola Jokic about as well as you could ask him to, but the Nuggets took a lead again after Kumiga hesitated on a corner three with Nikola Jokic guarding him, drove baseline, and took an ugly layup from behind the backboard that Jokic swatted, which sent the Nuggets into transition for a Will Barton three. Steve Kerr called timeout after this Nuggets’ bucket but Kuminga stayed in the game and Andrew Wiggins came out. In the minute or so that Curry/Poole/Thompson/Kuminga/Green played together, the Warriors tied the game, Kuminga missed another look at the rim, Klay Thompson hit a corner three hit a three, and the Warriors played an incredible possession of defense to force a turnover and then... turned the ball over in transition. You can see the more pleasant half of that sequence — the Warriors’ defense — below:
3rd Q:
12:00 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Green: 48-48, tie game.
8:47 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/Green/Looney: 54-60, Nuggets lead.
4:05 — Curry/Poole/Wiggins/Green/Looney: 67-68, Nuggets lead.
3:11 — Curry/GPII/Poole/OPJ/Looney: 67-68, Nuggets lead.
1:21 — Poole/GPII/Thompson/OPJ/Looney: 70-73, Nuggets lead.
The Warriors started the third quarter by allowing the Nuggets to score 12 points in a little more than three minutes. The quarter began in an ominous fashion with Jordan Poole over dribbling into a badly missed stepback three. On the very next possession, Steph Curry got a good look from the midrange but inexplicably hesitated and shuffled his feet for missing yet another shot to go to 4/12 from the field. On a rare instance that the Warriors actually got a stop on the Nuggets, Draymond Green negated a fastbreak by getting too fancy with a lob to Andrew Wiggins, which was knocked out of bounds by Jeff Green. After Monte Morris hit a three-pointer to put the Nuggets up 6 points, Steve Kerr called a timeout and put in Kevon Looney for Jordan Poole.
Within a few possessions, that Nuggets’ lead grew to 10 points and the crowd at Chase Center tittered nervously. It was at this point that Steve Kerr turned to a bizarre defensive scheme — a box-and-one with Klay Thompson guarding Nikola Jokic. The Warriors got three straight stops with this scheme, got a three from Draymond Green, and then proceeded to give up a transition bucket after Steph Curry threw the ball the away. The Warriors got another two stops in the halfcourt with this hilarious defensive scheme and then Steph Curry perked up and hit two threes in a row, including this one over the head of Nikola Jokic:
Steve Kerr pulled Klay Thompson with about four minutes left in the quarter and Draymond Green came out less than a minute later. Nikola Jokic was also absent in these minutes and it was during DeMarcus Cousins’ minutes that the Nuggets yanked the momentum of the game back from the Warriors as Jordan Poole had a layup goaltended that went uncalled and the Nuggets proceeded to beat up the Warriors on the offensive glass. The Nuggets got four offensive rebounds in the final three minutes of the period and got 5 points out of those extra possessions and to add insult to injury, Cousins hit a three with 0.3 seconds left in the quarter to put the Nuggets up by 8 points.
4th Q:
12:00 — Poole/GPII/Klay/OPJ/Green: 70-78, Nuggets lead.
8:48 — Curry/GPII/Poole/OPJ/Green: 79-83, Nuggets lead.
8:06 — Curry/GPII/Thompson/OPJ/Looney: 81-84, Nuggets lead.
6:05 — Curry/GPII/Thompson/OPJ/Green: 86-84, Nuggets lead.
1:33 — Curry/GPII/Thompson/Wiggins/Green: 94-90, Warriors lead.
0:21 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Green: 99-94, Warriors lead.
By the time Steph Curry checked back into the game with 8:48 minutes left in the game, the Warriors had gotten the Nuggets’ lead back down to 4 points. Klay Thompson hit a tough mid-range jumper, Otto Porter Jr. hit his second three of the playoffs (!!!), and the Warriors got two buckets on the interior by putting... simply... putting DeMarcus Cousins in high pick and rolls and having Gary Payton II roll to the hoop. Cousins, however, gave back what he gave up and put in another four points to reach a playoff-high 19 points in the game. Cousins came out of the game for Jokic when Curry came into the game and I actually felt a sense of relief! The Warriors proceeded to drag Jokic into a pick-and-roll and Steph Curry drew a foul on the likely MVP — his fifth of the night — and DeMarcus Cousins subbed back in.
The Warriors took the lead back in unlikely fashion on a possession where Steph Curry hesitated and passed up an open shot and with the shot clock winding down, the ball found itself in the hands of Gary Payton II in the left corner, who railed his second three of the night. On the next possession, GPII got a steal on a careless drive and kick by Aaron Gordon, and the Warriors smelled blood. Steph Curry pushed the ball up the court with the obvious intention of setting up a dagger shot and hit Klay Thompson in the corner for a three, but that shot barely rimmed out and Otto Porter Jr. was unable to corral the ball, which was ruled out of bounds on the Warriors.
Draymond Green subbed back into the game with left in the quarter and from that point on, the Warriors’ defense locked the fuck in. Until Nikola Jokic hit a floater with 3:04 left, the Nuggets did not score a single field goal. That Jokic floater opened up the floodgates for an exhilarating back-and-forth of buckets between Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic, and... Gary Payton II. The Warriors opted to use GPII as the primary screener for Steph Curry in crunch time with great results. Curry made three layups in the final minutes of the game, Payton had one of his own as the roll man and also made the dagger three to put the Warriors up by 5 points with 1:07 left in the game.
But Jokic, who was nursing some type of hamstring issue, did not let the Nuggets go down without a fight and scored 12 points in the final three and a half minutes of the game. Those buckets were ultimately futile as the cushion the Warriors built between the 2:26 mark and the 1:07 mark where GPII hit the dagger three, was too much to overcome.
Have you noticed something unusual here, perhaps the absence of Andrew Wiggins? It wasn’t until there was about a minute and a half left in the game that Wiggins actually played in the fourth quarter! As I saw Wiggins walk over to the scorer’s table around the 2-minute mark I felt a palpable sense of panic at the remote possibility that GPII would sit in favor of Wiggins. This did not, of course, come to fruition, nor did the return of Death Lineup 3.0, which got its ass handed to it in the third quarter. In the most intense moments of a closeout game, Steve Kerr relied on a lineup — Curry/GPII/Thompson/OPJ/Green — that didn’t play a single minute together in the regular season and had only played in 5 possessions together in this series before tonight. It was a bold choice and it was, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the best choice Steve Kerr made tonight.