DENVER — Down by six points with 2:32 left to play in a tight fourth quarter, the Denver Nuggets went on a 10-0 run to stun the visiting Golden State Warriors 119-115, in a thrilling NBA Cup pool play on Tuesday night (Wednesday AM in Manila).
Showing the poise reminiscent of their 2023 title run, the Nuggets defied the odds late behind a monster effort from Nikola Jokic who had a dominant 38 points, 6 assists and 10 rebounds as Denver climbed to 11-8 in the standings after a slow start to the season.
It was a stunning defeat for the Warriors who lost five straight following a superb that saw them lead the entire Western Conference with a 12-3 start despite a re-tooled backcourt that lost Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks last July.
All five Denver starters scored in double figures with Michael Porter Jr. finishing with 22 points and 7 rebounds. Aaron Gordon added 15 and 9 boards while Jamal Murray and Christian Bruan combined for 23 points to help the Nuggets connect 50.6 percent from the field (40-of-79) and 45.8 percent from 3-point distance (11 of 24).
“To win in this league is not always going to be easy,” Denver coach Michael Malone said at his postgame press conference where he credited “some really good performances tonight,”
The Nuggets’ brutal 13-2 finishing punch was highlighted by a Murray block and a steal by All-Star reserve Russell Westbrook.
Steph Curry led the Warriors with 24 points but he was held to just 8-of-23 shooting from the field while missing 11 of his 15 attempts from beyond the arc. Jonathan Kuminga had an efficient 19 points in 29 minutes while Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and Andrew Wiggins each had 13 points.
But the Warriors, playing without the injured Draymond Green, missed 51 total field goals and couldn’t get any traction on offense.
Despite the loss, though, Golden State advancedto the Emirates NBA Cup playoffs with a 3-1 record.
