Warriors vs Nuggets

Golden State's title core -- Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green -- believed it was in their DNA. Engrained in their very being.

We put the work in and trust in each other, and the results show in that." But getting to the playoffs and getting through a series, winning four games against a good team, like it's hard. Every team wants to be in this position at the end of the year. Denver answered an 11-2 Warriors run with a 10-3 run of their own and Golden State entered the final stanza down eight and in danger of giving the undermanned Nuggets more life with a Game 6 in altitude looming. It was the first real playoff test for these Warriors. Would they dig down and rediscover the championship killer instinct that still keeps those in Houston, Cleveland, Portland, and elsewhere awake at night? One sharpened over time and one the Warriors needed to show they still had Wednesday night at Chase Center.

Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors eliminated the Denver Nuggets from the NBA Playoffs on Wednesday evening.

Game 6 will be played in New Orleans on Thursday evening.CLICK HERE. The Nuggets caught a tough break having to face off against a Warriros team that has found its groove for the first time in two seasons, and they had to play the entire series without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. The win advances the Warriors to the second-round of the playoffs, and sends the Nuggets home for the offseason.

As the Warriors advance, they're going to have to continue to find ways to win without their A game.

The game wasn't pretty, but when it came down to crunch time, Curry took what the defense was giving him and found a way to help his team win. He didn't make a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, but he went 5 for 6 from the free throw line and made two clutch layups in the final 1:33 of the game, the second of which essentially sealed the win. Golden State hadn't really needed to do so through the first four games of the series because their offense was producing so well, but they certainly needed the defense to step up in order to close out the Nuggets in Game 5. "It was definitely a big talking point in the huddle was to play great defense." The ability to put the clamps on defensively helped save the Warriors on Wednesday, and it's a calling card of virtually every true championship contender in NBA history. From there it was up to Curry, the team's closer on a night where Thompson and Poole both struggled to knock down shots. I guess when you've bounced around like he has -- been in the G League, played on 10-day contracts, never really found a home -- there's a lot more pressure in that than there is playing in a high-stakes game," Kerr said on Wednesday. "He's found a home here. In the end, however, the Warriors looked up at the scoreboard and found themselves advancing to the second round of the playoffs after 102-98 slugfest. First the defense, which gifted the Nuggets 20 free throw attempts in the first half, compared to just seven for the Warriors. Nikola Jokic was simply outstanding, as usual, with 30 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists ( Draymond Green told the reigning MVP, "thank you for making me better" after the game), but the foul parade wasn't exclusive to him. "It's been three years since we've been in the playoffs, and you kind of forget how difficult closeout games really are," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. The energy seemed off from the jump in Game 5 against the Denver Nuggets, with the Chase Center fans a bit too placid for the players' liking, being asked multiple times to increase the intensity of their cheering and affection. The three-guard lineup consisting of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole started for the first time, but didn't exactly resemble the mythical three-headed beast, Cerberus, to which Nuggets coach Michael Malone compared it earlier in the series.

In eliminating the Nuggets in Game 5, the Warriors gave us real proof of championship life.

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They did it by finally winning their first closeout game in the postseason since the 2019 Western Conference Finals. Of course, it wasn't easy. Closeout games ...

are great on one end of the floor but they can’t rebound the ball and they’ve got no size.” That means during those 7 minutes the Warriors only rebounded 50% of those Nuggets misses on defense. It’s how Aaron Gordon got five offensive rebounds in the game. The Nuggets won on the glass 50-37 which is a solid margin, but it only tells half the story. But in this particular game, the Warriors struggled quite a bit. The lineup of Jordan Poole, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins had a +34.4 net rating going into their closeout game against the Nuggets, per NBA.com’s stats tool.

Klay Thompson and the Golden State Warriors eliminated the Denver Nuggets from the NBA Playoffs on Wednesday evening.

Game 6 will be played in New Orleans on Thursday evening.CLICK HERE. They now have a 1-8 record in their last nine playoff games dating back to last season when they got swept in the second-round by the Phoenix Suns. Nikola Jokic won the 2021 NBA MVP Award, and is a finalist once again to win the trophy this year.