Warriors defeat Nuggets in blowout: 125-101

The Stephen Curry Show arrived in Denver tonight as the Warriors defeated the Nuggets in a blowout.

The Warriors played a strong team-game, sharing the load in their second game of a physically demanding back-to-back and shutting the Nuggets down early.

Though Kevin Durant was unable to continue his streak of consecutive 20-point games, leaving him tied with Michael Jordan at 72, he still scored 18 points with nine rebounds.

Klay Thompson scored 19 points and went 3-4 from downtown, while Draymond Green just missed another double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.

JaVale McGee was a lob-magnet, dunking in most of his 10 points of the night in just under 15 minutes of play. Meanwhile Patrick McCaw had the best night of his young NBA career, scoring 8 points in just under 15 minutes as well.

The star of the night, however, was Stephen Curry.

It wasn’t so much how many points Curry scored, it was how he got them. He scored 33 points, going 7-13 from downtown and a perfect 6-6 on free throws. Lets take a look at a few choice plays:

Here he drives under the basket for the reverse layup.

Later he goes for, and completes, the 4-point play.

Here he toys with his defender, nearly loses the handle, and makes the long 3-pointer anyway.

(Bench Watch: Looks like we’re starting to see a resurgence of bench celebrations)

The short version of the game recap:

The Warriors took an early lead and never let it get put in jeopardy.

The longer version:

Draymond started the night off with a 3-pointer, his first of the three which made him 7-of-10 over the last two games. After giving up six points, the Warriors went on a commanding 17-2 run filled with jumpers and layups. Pachulia hit foul trouble early in the first quarter, which brought in McGee, who proceeded to dunk on Nikola Jokic.

Green and Curry followed that up with shots from downtown, a particularly nice one for Curry off of a turnover, to close out the quarter 38-19.

The second quarter was much of the same, with the Warriors continuing to score heavily in the paint. There was a moment where a ball was kicked out of bounds and was called against Durant - while the Warriors were arguing the call, Denver scored an uncontested 3-point shot. However, despite their best efforts the Nuggets were only able to keep pace and the Warriors led by 14 going to halftime.

Just like he had to start the game, Green scored from downtown to kick-off the second half. Turnovers continued to be a problem for Denver, just as shoes continued to be a problem for Durant, as he once again lost his shoe in the middle of play. Again. (This has been your Shoe Watch update .)

This is the quarter where Curry really shined, going for an early layup, followed by a Thompson 3-pointer, and then the Splash Brothers traded off with them, combining for six in the quarter. McGee finished the quarter off with back to back slams, going to the fourth up by 24 points.

McCaw scored the majority of his points in the fourth, with three field goals and a pair of free throws. Durant was unable to get the last two points he needed for his streak to continue, and after pushing an offensive foul, was pulled from the game for Kevon Looney who got a dunk of his own in before the Warriors closed it out, winning 125-101.

Notes:

• After breaking his streak of games with made 3-point shots, Curry has come back strong, making 24 in his last three games combined, despite sitting out the fourth quarter tonight.
• Kerr had a reason for pulling Durant with roughly five minutes left in the game, despite the streak:

• Durant had some thoughts on the his impressive teammate and the reaction he gets from fans even on the road:

The Warriors next face the Phoenix Suns on Sunday at 5:00 pm back at Oracle Arena.