Nuggets-Warriors Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO
Posted Apr 07 2012 2:08AM

With improved play and a favorable portion of their schedule upcoming, the Denver Nuggets have a golden opportunity to strengthen their grip on a playoff spot.

The Nuggets look to capitalize on the first of three straight games against struggling opposition Saturday night when they open a home-and-home set with the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena.

Denver (30-25) has won four of its last six games, posting impressive victories during that stretch against Chicago, Orlando and Phoenix. That success has the Nuggets tied with Houston for seventh in the Western Conference, 1 1/2 games ahead of ninth-place Utah and the same margin behind Dallas for sixth.

Now would appear to be the time for Denver to improve its playoff position. The club's next two games are against the Warriors (21-33), who are 3-12 since trading leading scorer Monta Ellis to Milwaukee on March 14.

After wrapping up this home-and-home set Monday, the Nuggets will host Minnesota two days later in a matchup with another team outside the playoff race.

The Nuggets bounced back from a loss to Western Conference-worst New Orleans by scoring the game's final nine points in a 105-99 victory over the Suns on Friday.

Andre Miller, who had 15 points, seven assists and seven rebounds in the win, is already looking toward the playoffs.

"I'd like to be out there in May," the 36-year-old guard said. "I haven't been out of the first round so we've got to keep pushing and hopefully we can get past that."

Another big effort from Aaron Afflalo would help. He had 30 points while hitting 11 of 19 from the floor - 5 of 9 from beyond the arc - Friday.

Afflalo has a career-high 14.7 points per game this season, but he's shown his importance over the last eight games. He's averaging 23.2 points in the five victories during that stretch.

Despite that recent track record, Denver failed to capitalize on Afflalo's 26 points in a 109-101 loss to Golden State on Feb. 9.

The Nuggets also fell 116-114 in their last visit to Oracle Arena on Feb. 9, 2011.

The Warriors have lost seven of eight overall and return home after capping a 1-3 trip with a 104-98 loss to Utah on Friday.

David Lee had 26 points and 12 rebounds against the Jazz and continues to be Golden State's top scoring threat since Ellis' departure. The forward-center is averaging 23.1 points over the last 15 games - 26.8 in the past six.

Lee was held to 12 points and eight boards in the last meeting with the Nuggets.

Rookie Klay Thompson is looking to build on his 23 points from Friday. The swingman is averaging 17.8 points in 16 games as Ellis' direct replacement in the lineup.

Thompson was averaging 8.0 points in the previous 38 games - one start. However, that includes a 19-point effort on 8-of-11 shooting against the Nuggets on Feb. 9.

Nuggets fall flat in 112-97 loss to Warriors

Posted Apr 08 2012 2:36AM

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Denver's hopes of moving up in the Western Conference standings took another serious hit, and guard Ty Lawson is concerned the Nuggets are losing sight of the goal at hand.

Lawson had some harsh words for his teammates following Denver's 112-97 loss to Golden State on Saturday - and for good reason.

It marked the third time in the last two weeks that the Nuggets fell to a sub-.500 team and dropped them into the No. 8 seed in the West with Phoenix and Utah only a game behind.

Instead of enhancing its playoff position, Denver is now on the fringe of the playoffs as the regular season winds down.

"It's getting ridiculous at this point," said Lawson, who had 21 points and six assists. "We're losing to teams we should never ... that we shouldn't lose to, especially with the magnitude of what's going on in the season with the playoff run and where we're at. We can't be losing these games."

A day after a 105-99 victory over Phoenix, Denver came out fast but finished flat against a Warriors team that had lost 12 of its previous 15 games and is playing without Stephen Curry.

This one is bound to stick with the Nuggets for a bit.

They jumped out to an early lead behind Aaron Afflalo and had the Warriors on their heels before Golden State rallied to win at home for just the third time since March 1.

"Whatever flow we had going in the first, we didn't have for the last two or three quarters," said Afflalo, who finished with 16 points. "We need to string some games together simply for our playoff positioning and hopes. It's almost a must. We kind of have to."

David Lee had 17 points and nine rebounds, and the Warriors got a big lift from their reserves to put the dent in Denver's playoff hopes.

Brandon Rush added 20 points, Nate Robinson had 14 points and seven assists, and Richard Jefferson scored 10 points to help Golden State, which also outrebounded the Nuggets and scored 58 points in the paint.

"We're trying to continue to be aggressive," Lee said. "We know that jumpshots come and go but Nate got in the paint a bunch tonight, as did Charles (Jenkins). I tried to be an inside threat as well. I think it really feeds into our overall game."

Nuggets coach George Karl's team has dropped both of its games with Golden State this season and doesn't have much time to find a solution. The teams play again in Denver on Monday.

Coming off a 30-point night Friday, Afflalo had 13 in the first quarter, including a leaning 19-footer with the Warriors' Klay Thompson draped over him as the shot clock buzzer sounded.

That was about as good as it got for the Nuggets.

After Rush's 32-footer as time expired in the opening period pulled Golden State within 27-26, Lee and Dominic McGuire combined for 15 points in the second quarter to help the Warriors go up by seven at the break.

The Nuggets trailed by as much as 17 and looked nothing like a team in the thick of a playoff hunt before making their best run of the night in the third behind Al Harrington.

The former Warrior scored eight points in just over two minutes, raising his arms to the booing crowd at Oracle Arena after his fourth 3-pointer of the night cut Golden State's lead to 79-71. Harrington later earned a delay of game penalty that resulted in a technical foul.

Denver, still playing without injured forward Danilo Gallinari, got within 92-87 on Andre Miller's reverse layup with 7:32 left in the fourth but managed only four buckets the rest of the way.

"It's exciting to peek every now and that at what we will be," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. "But we have to make sure that we stay true to the process and continue to do the things that put us in position to one day be real good."

NOTES: Denver, which tied a franchise record with only five turnovers in Friday's victory, had eight in the first quarter alone against Golden State and finished with 16 overall. ... Nuggets G Wilson Chandler underwent a second MRI on his strained groin but results were not disclosed. Chandler, who missed his fourth straight game, is scheduled to meet with doctors on Monday to further discuss the situation. ... Karl said Gallinari (fractured left thumb) is expected to play on Monday after missing 10 games with a fractured left thumb.

Notebook: Warriors 112, Nuggets 97

Posted Sunday April 8, 2012 2:09AM

By Geoff Lepper, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Brandon Rush led a balanced Golden State attack, scoring 20 points and adding five rebounds as the Warriors dealt a painful blow Saturday to the Denver Nuggets' playoff hopes with a 112-97 victory.

Seven Warriors reached double-figures in scoring to help Golden State win for just the fourth time in its last 16 games. David Lee had 17 points and nine boards, while Klay Thompson scored 13 of his 15 in the second half to help the Warriors pull away.

Ty Lawson scored a game-high 21 points for the Nuggets (30-26), who dropped out of a tie for seventh place in the Western Conference and now sit eighth, a half-game behind Dallas (31-26) and Houston (30-25) and just a game in front of Phoenix and Utah (both 29-27).

QUOTABLE: "It's been like this for a month. We'll beat Chicago, then lose to Toronto. Beat Orlando, and then we lose to New Orleans. We just need to have more focus. It's getting ridiculous at this point. We're losing to teams we should never -- that we shouldn't lose to, especially with the magnitude of what's going on in the season with the playoff run and where we're at. We can't be losing these games."
-- Ty Lawson

THE STAT: Golden State turned the lanes at Oracle Arena into a veritable freeway, constantly beating the Nuggets off the dribble and eventually scoring 58 points in the paint, just two off their season high. The Warriors had 22 points in the paint in the second quarter alone.

TURNING POINT: After falling behind by seven points at the half by allowing Golden State to score 30 in the second quarter, the Nuggets went in to regroup at halftime, yet somehow came out even flatter after intermission. The Warriors opened the third quarter with seven consecutive points, kickstarting an 18-8 run that left Golden State leading by 17 and comfortably in control. The hosts never trailed in the second half.

QUOTABLE II: "Everything that we were supposed to stop, they was doing: They was hitting 3s, they was getting to the basket, they was getting paint points. We've got to pick it up on the defensive end. It was just lack of execution. It was all on us. We beat ourselves tonight."
-- Ty Lawson

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Rush, whose 3-point percentage had dropped from 52.4 percent before the All-Star Game to 36.0 afterwards, was 4-for-6 on treys Saturday.

GOOD MOVE: Warriors coach Mark Jackson gave 10 players 16 or more minutes, but outside of Lee, nobody got more than 30. Golden State certainly looked fresher down the stretch in a battle of two teams that were both finishing up back-to-backs.

QUOTABLE III: "It's very satisfying knowing that a team came in with something to play for, with payback on their mind, and we found a way to put together 48 minutes of basketball."
-- Mark Jackson

HOT: Former Warriors forward Al Harrington had 19 points off the bench, repeatedly taunting the Oracle Arena crowd while shooting 5-for-7 on 3-pointers...

NOT: ... but the Nuggets couldn't take advantage because the rest of their squad went just 3-for-18 from behind the arc.

ROOKIE WATCH: Jordan Hamilton's second career start for the Nuggets didn't go quite as well as the first. Coming off an 11-point, eight-assist game against Phoenix on Friday, Hamilton was held scoreless by the Warriors, going 0-for-7 from the floor in 18 minutes.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Warriors season-ticket holder Ronak Desai of Dublin won $12,000 during a shooting contest between the first and second quarters, draining a 3-pointer for a $2,000 prize and earning $10,000 for swishing a half-court attempt. It was the second time in two weeks that a Warriors fan has nailed the half-court try and took home the $10,000 prize; Omar Ortega of Hayward did it on March 24.

NOTABLE: This is the first time the Warriors have taken a season series from Denver since 2002-03. . . . Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo had 13 points in the first quarter but only three more the rest of the way. . . . Nate Robinson scored 14 points and added seven assists for a strong Warriors bench, which outscored the Golden State starters, 57-55. . . . Denver remained without the services of forwards Wilson Chandler (strained groin) and Danilo Gallinari (broken left thumb). Nuggets coach George Karl said before the game that he was unwilling to discuss the results of Chandler's second MRI scan until the team confers with doctors and Chandler himself on Monday. . . . Gallinari worked hard before the game and Denver remains hopeful he can come back Monday, when these same teams meet again in Denver. . . . Warriors coach Mark Jackson took advantage of a doubleheader at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum complex, visiting Oakland A's manager Bob Melvin during that club's batting-practice session before the A's hosted the Seattle Mariners.

UP NEXT: For the Warriors, Monday @ Denver, Wednesday @ Portland, Thursday vs. Dallas. For the Nuggets, Monday vs. Golden State, Wednesday vs. Minnesota, Friday @ Lakers.

• Nuggets: Chandler, Fernandez
• Warriors: Bogut, Curry

• Nuggets: --
• Warriors: --

• Lead Changes: 8
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA
• Officials: #9 Derrick Stafford, #18 Matt Boland, #74 Curtis Blair
• Attendance: 18942
• Duration: 2:15