NBA Preview from The Sports Network
Friday, November 23rd
(All times Eastern)
Golden State Warriors (7-5) at Denver Nuggets (6-6), 9 p.m.
(Sports Network) - The Golden State Warriors will look to continue their
winning streak Friday night when they head to the Pepsi Center to take on the
Denver Nuggets.
The Warriors have won two in a row, including a 102-93 victory over the
visiting Brooklyn Nets Wednesday night. Golden State has taken four its last
five and are now two games above .500.
Wednesday's win over Brooklyn got off to a shaky start. The Nets took a 30-18
first-quarter lead, but the Warriors, who won four of their first seven road
games for the first time since the 2007-08 season, won the final three
quarters by 21 to cruise to victory.
Stephen Curry led the way with 25 points and David Lee posted yet another
double-double with 20 and 13 boards. But perhaps the most important player in
the Warriors' win was shooting guard Klay Thompson.
After scoring 30 total points in the four previous games, Thompson netted 23
points on 10-for-19 shooting, including 3-for-6 from the 3-point line.
"Nothing changed. I had a tough four-game set where I had a tough time
shooting the ball," said Thompson. "I got in the gym and got my shot down a
bit. It felt great to come out here and play great. I just stayed with it and
didn't get down on myself."
The Nuggets return home from a three-game road trip the winners of two in a
row. They earned an impressive victory at Memphis against the Grizzlies
Monday, then went to Minnesota and knocked off the Timberwolves, 101-94, on
Wednesday.
The Nuggets absorbed the blow of Kevin Love's surprise return to the lineup
for Minnesota. The T-Wolves built a 14-point halftime lead, but Denver won the
second half by 21 to earn its largest road comeback since 2009.
"I thought they would get a bounce with Kevin Love playing, I just didn't
think they'd get that kind of a bounce," admitted Nuggets head coach George
Karl. "You know 16 points in the first, it caused us to scramble a lot and the
rhythm of the first half we never got any rhythm. When we got good shots we
didn't make them, our defensive alertness and a tentativeness to what we were
supposed to do. We yelled and screamed a little bit at halftime and they did
great."
Danilo Gallinari led the way for the Nuggets with 19 points, but the starting
backcourt of Andre Iguodala and Ty Lawson each had 18. Iguodala grabbed nine
boards and Lawson handed out nine assists.
The Nuggets won Wednesday night despite 20 turnovers. Sometimes teams just win
games like that and Denver did it to Golden State earlier this season.
The Warriors built a quick five-point lead to start the second overtime on
Nov. 10, but the Nuggets scored the game's last 11 points for the hard-fought
road win.
The Warriors have lost seven of their last eight in Denver.
11/23 10:33:09 ET

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