On April 19, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued. The Golden State Warriors, who made the first round of the playoffs, continued to accept the Challenge of the Denver Nuggets at home. The Warriors, who already led the Nuggets 1-0 in the series, did have some initiative. However, we have to worry about Curry's injury. Curry has not been able to make a comeback since mid-March, and although the first game of the playoffs returned to the field, he could only play as a substitute.
There is no doubt that Curry has not yet fully recovered, and with the impact of injuries, the Nuggets are bound to fight back strongly. But, in terms of playoff opener performances, the Nuggets don't seem to be as strong as we thought. They limited Curry and Clay's threats, but ignored Jordan Poole's scoring threats. Moreover, their proud interior lethality did not play a big role in the game, and at one point the Warriors made a big breakthrough in the three-point score on the outside.
At the beginning of this game, the Nuggets' star Jokic quickly entered the state and led the team to the initiative of leading the score. In the first quarter of 10 minutes, he constantly broke through the box, and also had the means to score free throws, delivering 12 points and 6 rebounds to help the team take a 1-point lead with a 26-25 score. Entering the second quarter of the showdown, the Warriors, who were in a state of backwardness, adjusted their state and launched a strong counterattack. Klay, who was not in good shape in the first quarter, felt warm and sent a key 10 points, and Curry, who came off the bench, also contributed 11 points and 2 rebounds, leading the team to a 32-25 score.
At the end of the first half of the game, the Warriors not only recovered the 1 point they trailed in the first quarter, but also achieved a 6-point rebound. Taking the lead in the score, the Warriors, who fought again, followed the trend and continued to widen the point difference between the two sides. In the third quarter of the competition, Poole continued to play the style of a scoring wizard, handing over 13 points, 2 assists and 1 block. At the same time, Curry, who came off the bench, also sent 10 points and 2 assists with 100% shooting rate of 3 shots, helping the team play a 44-30 score and take a 14-point lead.
The former Yongsan madness is back, and by the time it reaches the crucial final-quarter showdown, the point difference between the two sides has widened to 20 points, and the game has basically lost suspense. In the fourth quarter, although the Nuggets did not want to give up early, the star Jokic was directly expelled from the game because of complaining about the penalty. The team was behind by a large margin, the star Jokic was expelled, and the Nuggets accepted the reality and sent rotating players to consume the remaining game time.
In the end, the regular time of the fourth quarter was over, and the Golden State Warriors won the game with a score of 126-106 without suspense. Curry is still on the bench this game, but he is no less than any starter. In the 23 minutes of the bench, he delivered a game-high score of 34 points, as well as 3 rebounds and 4 assists, showing the style of his team leader. At the same time, Clay and Poole also performed well, sending 21 points and 29 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists respectively, making a lot of contributions in the process of helping the team build a lead.
The Nuggets still did not limit the Warriors' outside three-point output, Curry 5 of 10 three-pointers, Poole 5 of 10 three-pointers, Klay three-pointers of 8 of 3, the former splash duo, with the rise of Pooler, played the performance of the three brothers of the splash. In contrast, Jokic's performance in this game is still relatively chicken, and he was expelled after playing 28 minutes and sending 26 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists. The Warriors won the absolute initiative with a 2-0 score in the series, and the promotion to the Western Conference semifinals is just around the corner.