OAKLAND, Calif. _ The Denver Nuggets entered Monday night tied with the Sacramento Kings for the West's eighth seed, amid a clutter of less than appealing sub-.500 potential first-round opponents for the Golden State Warriors.
Against Golden State on Monday night, Denver flashed some of its young skill, used its size advantage and kept the game competitive deep into the fourth _ like they conceivably could come mid-April _ but ultimately lost without providing much of a true threat. The final: 127-119 Warriors, bumping their NBA-best record to 30-5.
Golden State won this one with balanced offense. Six players scored in double-figures. Zaza Pachulia was the most surprising. And he got a bulk of his work done in the opening minutes.
Pachulia had seven of Golden State's first 11 points, outplaying Nikola Jokic, one of the league's emerging big men, in the first quarter. Pachulia opened his scoring with a powerful and-1, then perfectly trailed Draymond Green on a fastbreak for a catch and dunk _ something that's been tough for Pachulia this season _ before adding a sweet hook shot moments later.
In his 19 minutes, Pachulia finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, easily one of his most productive games of the season and only his third in double-figures.
Golden State's other four starters also did their offensive thing. Kevin Durant had 21 points on 10-of-19 shooting, nailing a big fadeaway 3 at the halftime buzzer. Steph Curry finished with 22 on 8-of-18, including one of his vintage 30-foot transition pull-up 3s that bolts. Klay Thompson closed with 25.
It was the 12th time this season all three had gone for 20-plus in the same game. Golden State is 12-0 in those games.
But it was Draymond Green with the night's most loaded stat-line. Green finished with his second triple-double of the season: 15 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. He finished off the triple-double with less than a minute to go, rising over the much bigger Jokic for a game-sealing putback.
Golden State's sixth player who reached double-figures: Ian Clark. The Warriors' soft-spoken reserve guard continued his breakout season, making four of his five shots and both of his 3s for 12 points in 16 minutes off the bench. He's now shooting above 53 percent on the season, a ridiculously efficient rate for a smaller reserve guard who takes a bulk of his shots outside the paint.
JaVale McGee was nearly the seventh Warrior to reach 10 points. He finished with nine, making all four of his shots. Two were dunks _ McGee's speciality. Despite only averaging 8.4 minutes per game _ and only playing nine on Monday night _ McGee is one of only 13 NBA players with 50 dunks this season. He got his 50th _ how else? _ on a first-quarter lob, set up by Curry and crushed through by McGee.
Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala and David West also chipped in a combined 12 to round out the balanced 127-point effort. But that big a night was needed because the defense _ quietly becoming one of the league's best over the past month-plus _ was shredded much of Monday.
Denver isn't a great shooting team. And the Nuggets didn't shoot it very well on Monday night, making only nine of their 35 3-point attempts. But they attacked the Warriors at will on the drive and attacked the offensive glass. Denver finished with 60 points in the paint and 18 second-chance points off 16 offensive rebounds, all big numbers.
The Warriors continue to have problems protecting the defensive glass. But they continue to thrive in almost all other areas (and even held the turnovers to 13 on Monday night). And because of that, they continue to win games.
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