The best pure shooter ever dribbled through nearly the entire Denver Nuggets team before making the perfect teardrop layup to put the Golden State Warriors up with 30 seconds left in the game. As he came down, he looked at the audience and put both hands under one side of his head — signaling to the Nuggets that it was time to go to sleep.
The Warriors to a 102-98 victory, punching Golden State’s ticket to the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday evening by taking the series 4-1.
The Warriors will face the winner of the Minnesota Timberwolves–Memphis Grizzlies series in the second round, with Game 1 happening as soon as Sunday.
“You could tell we were pressing a little bit,” Curry said.
“For me, Draymond [Green], Klay [Thompson], [Kevon Looney], we’ve all been there before and know that feeling and love the competition and the environment. It’s also a reminder of like this — tonight was just a weird feeling because we had not been there in a while. Again, we wanted it so bad. Kind of made it a lot more difficult on ourselves.”
“We went on a run, and we cut it to one, and then they ended up pushing it back to eight. But we knew right there that we had gained the traction,” Green said. “We had the game at the pace we wanted to get it at.”
The Warriors were down eight points when the fourth started but outscored Denver 32-20 during that final quarter and outshot the Nuggets 63% to 53% from the floor to secure the series-clinching triumph.
“Once we stopped fouling, we were able to get the game at our pace,” Green said. “It looked a lot more like Games 1 through 3, as opposed to Game 4.”
Curry scored 11 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and scored or assisted on 10 of the Warriors’ 15 shots in clutch time.
“I have so much faith [in Curry],” Thompson said. “Some of the 3s he was making tonight was incredible. And also getting to the rim, making the pocket pass. Steph Curry is a special, special player, and you’ll probably never see another player like him again.”
“I don’t know how to begin on that one,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said when asked to describe what Payton brought to the game. “His defense in the fourth quarter was fantastic. That’s why I stayed with him. But then he started knocking down 3s and getting to the rim for a couple of layups. I thought he was just a huge factor in the game, and he deserved to stay out there with the way he was playing, so we kept him out there the whole fourth, and he came through big-time.”
