NBA Playoffs 2013: 5 Things We’ve Learned From Nuggets vs. Warriors Series
Warriors guard Stephen Curry scored 29 points in Game 3 against the Nuggets in the NBA Playoffs. Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com
It was expected that the Nuggets vs. Warriors series would produce a great show, but it has exceeded even the most lofty of expectations. The Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors have produced has been the most exciting series of the 2013 NBA playoffs thus far.
There was been plenty of scoring, buzzer beaters and amazing shooting performances in the first three games. The Warriors, who are the No. 6 seed, are leading the series 2-1 after a 110-108 win on Friday, April 26.
The Denver Nuggets are in a must-win situation for Game 4 as the No. 3 seed does not want to go down 3-1. So what have we learned from the Nuggets vs. Warriors so far?
The Nuggets are playing scared
They are not the same team during the first three games of this series. The best the Nuggets have looked was during the first half of Game 3 when they built a 12-point lead at Oracle Arena. That lead eventually disappeared. They are not running like they usually do. The Nuggets knew it is was going to be tough in the playoffs, but they seem to not be trying. The Nuggets averaged 19 fast-break points per game during the regular season but during this series they have 15, eight and 16 in the three games.
Stephen Curry can shoot the lights out
Warriors guard Stephen Curry went 1-for-10 in the first half of Game 1. Things have become a little different for the sharpshooter. The rest of Game 1, he shot 6-for-10 and finished with 19 points. In Games 2 and 3, both wins for the Warriors, he has scored 30 and 29 points while shooting 53 percent from the field.
Curry has range that seems to stretch to half-court. His quick release is giving the Nuggets a ton of problems. If the Nuggets don’t slow him down, this series could be over quickly.
Mark Jackson is out-coaching George Karl
Nuggets coach George Karl has been a great regular-season coach, but seems to struggle in the playoffs. Karl has been out of the first round once–in 2009–during his tenure with the Nuggets. He has made the Finals once, with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1996.
Warriors coach Mark Jackson is a second-year coach and leading his team to the playoffs for the first time. Karl should be out-coaching Jackson but that is not the case.
Jackson has realized the Nuggets can not guard the pick-and-roll, so he keeps going to it and his offense has exploded. Even when Karl switched up his lineup for Game 3, Jackson still attacked. Jackson is pulling all the right strings in this series and Karl seems to not be able to make the right call.
The Nuggets can’t rebound
The Nuggets got a pass in Game 1 when they were outrebounded by 10 because Kenneth Faried was out. But in Games 2 and 3, there was not excuse. The Warriors are without David Lee, who led the NBA in double-doubles. Lee is a rebounding machine, but without him the Warriors have Andrew Bogut in the middle and that’s about it.
The Nuggets were outrebounded by 10 again in Game 2 and by 12 in Game 3. The Warriors are flat-out pushing the Nuggets around. The Nuggets were the ones pushing people around in the regular season, but they have lost that edge in the playoffs.
The Warriors have all the momentum
The Warriors are rolling and playing great and the Nuggets are in big trouble. The Nuggets looked like the Nuggets again in first half of Game 3 and the Warriors still came back and won. If Curry was not scoring, then Jarrett Jack was going off or Harrison Barnes or Klay Thompson were dazzling. They seem unstoppable at the moment.
Winning on the Pepsi Center floor gave the Warriors a lot of confidence and if the Nuggets still want to win this series they will have to win at Oracle Arena in Game 4 and take the momentum back.