Nuggets Can't Handle 3-Guard Lineup — Warriors Take Game 2
When the Warriors played the Nuggets on March 10, Head Coach Steve Kerr unveiled the 3-guard lineup with Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney. Though Draymond Green didn’t play that game, fans got a glimpse into the potential of what havoc the lineup could cause in the playoffs.
With the game on the line, Warriors superstar Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole went to the 1-2 pick and roll. Two Nuggets went to Steph, and Poole was left open for a three. The next possession, the Nuggets made the same mistake, and Poole splashed a corner three to end the game.
Now, with the Warriors at nearly full strength, the Warriors went to the lineup that only saw eight games and 44 minutes in total.
“The floor was a lot more spaced, there’s a lot of driving angles, and you have to make them pay,” Curry said. “We love to play that way and that’s when all the open shots and we love to play that way. If you get them to react, someone’s gonna be open.”
In 11 minutes, the “Fast Five” registered a plus-29, a 204.3 offensive rating, a 75.0 defensive rating and a 129.3 net rating.
In game one, the 3G lineup went on an 18-4 run at the end of the 1st half. In game two, the game blew open with a 26-8 run. The specific lineup of Curry, Klay Thompson, Poole, Wiggins and Green played in only one game in the entire regular season.
“We’ve been hoping to get to this point all year where we could get our whole group together just to see what that would look like,” Kerr said.
The Nuggets got off to a fast start in the first quarter. With Nikola Jokic only taking two free-throws in Game 1, the Warriors knew that Jokic was going to be more aggressive. Jokic already doubled his free-throw attempts and finished the first quarter with four-of-six shooting.
With the game at 26-18 in the first, Nuggets guard Bones Hyland missed a shot and Jokic went for the put-back, but GP2 climbed the ladder and swatted the 7-footer. Then, in transition, Wiggins found Otto Porter Jr., who cashed in the triple, trimming the lead to 26-20.
On the way back to the timeout, GP2 gave Jokic a tap — and Jokic didn’t take that kindly, but was held back by Curry and Poole. Jokic’s frustrations came to a boiling point when he got ejected midway through the fourth.
With the Warriors down 12 — Poole showcased his skillset and threw a behind-the-back dime to Nemanja Bjelica on the dive cut. The Warriors came storming back, and a spinning layup by Curry got the Warriors their first lead of the game at 44-43 in the second.
“When you beat a team the way we did the first game, they come out and give you their best punch,” Green said. “We did that, we took the punch on the chin, we responded the right way. Just to see the way our group responded, it’s special.”
The “PTSD plus the W” lineup blew the game open once the Warriors took the lead. With the tempo favoring the Warriors, the team was able to get wide-open layups, consistently putting the Nuggets defense on their heels and even, at one point, left Curry of all people wide-open for a transition three.
Midway through the third, the Nuggets cut the lead to eight, but a floater by Curry and a corner three by Thompson extended the lead to double-digits once again.
The Splash Brothers had connected on 12 straight points at one stretch, then, Curry went to a side-step three and nailed a four-point play, extending the Warriors lead to 20 points — convincingly ending the game.
The Warriors have a couple of days off before facing the Nuggets on their home turf Thursday, April 21.
(Photo credit: Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)