Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors: Game Highlights (1:26)Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors: Game Highlights (1:26)
SAN FRANCISCO — Aaron Gordon’s 10th and final made 3 on Thursday night at Chase Center felt like the final dagger. It came with 26 seconds left in regulation, putting the visiting Denver Nuggets up by three and punctuating a career night for the 12th-year forward.
But the biggest perimeter fireworks show in Gordon’s life happened to come against the greatest shooter of all time.
Five seconds later, out of a timeout, Stephen Curry stepped into a semi-contested 34-footer off a screen and buried it to tie the score. Five minutes later, after Curry opened overtime with another made 3 and closed it with two free throws, the Golden State Warriors finished a 137-131 win to overshadow Gordon’s 50-point masterpiece.
“The bigger the moment, the more he rises,” Draymond Green said of Curry. “He’s this quiet guy … but he loves the show. Anytime there’s a show to be put on, he’s going to do it.”
Gordon’s stat line was jaw-dropping: 50 points on 17-of-21 shooting and 10-of-11 from 3. He made eight straight 3s to open the game, one shy of an NBA record.
Two seasons ago, Gordon made only 29% of his 1.9 attempted 3s per game. Last season, he made a significant leap, hitting 43.6% of his 3.4 per game.
But Thursday night’s performance was altogether different. Gordon had never made more than seven 3s in a game. Against the Warriors, he became only the 17th player in history to make 10 3s in a losing effort. That has happened to Curry seven times and no other player more than once.
“The shot he made to tie it toward the end [of regulation], it’s a shot that only he can make,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said.
The Warriors’ biggest strategic choice of the night came late in the fourth quarter. During a timeout huddle, assistant coaches Terry Stotts and Chris DeMarco suggested to head coach Steve Kerr that he deploy a bigger lineup of Curry, Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga, Green and the newly acquired Al Horford.
“Where we going to score?” Kerr said. “That was my biggest concern. Could we execute [offensively]? But [Stotts and DeMarco] reminded me we have Steph and Jimmy, and they’ll find a way to score.”
The use of a larger lineup for the typically smaller Warriors allowed them to match up better defensively, especially with Horford’s ability to switch at the center position and Kuminga’s continued growth as a two-way wing to open his fifth season.
“It was really fun to watch a group that’s never played together close a game against one of the best teams in the league,” Kerr said.
That five-man group erased a seven-point Denver lead in the final 3:50 of regulation and beat the Nuggets by six in overtime.
“I did [previously] think that was a possibility to be a closing lineup,” Green said. “Or a starting lineup. Or a middle of the game lineup.”
Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors: Game Highlights (1:26)Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors: Game Highlights (1:26)
“Ridiculous,” Curry said. “Whatever he did this summer, it worked.”
Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors: Game Highlights (1:26)