Stephen Curry bombed in a game high 36 points, Brandin Podziemski and Jimmy Butler III combined for 45 more and Golden State Warriors dumped Denver Nuggets 118-104 on Friday in San Francisco.
Warriors (46-31) got his fifth straight victory to climb within half a game of fourth place Nuggets (47-31) in the Western Conference Playoff Chase.
Golden State is a game before Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves in their attempt to avoid the Western Play-in tournament.
Curry shot 7-for-15 from 3-point range and Podziemski 4-for-8 when Warriors exceeded Nuggets 48-36 from long reach. Golden State registered its first victory over Denver in three attempts this season.
A third straight loss dropped Denver four games behind second place Houston Rockets with only four matches left.
Trying to drive Warriors to exhaustion after the Golden State endured a six-game trip that ended in a tough victory over the Los Angeles Lakers the night before, Nuggets used a 44-point in the first quarter to go up with 10.
However, Golden State had its way for the rest of the night, with Podziemski that chipped in with 26 points to complement Curry’s third straight game with 36 or more.
Podziemski also found time for team high in returns with eight and assists with sex for Warriors, which improved to 21-5 since the acquisition of Butler in February.
Butler had five assists and five steal to go with their 19 points.
Kevon Looney, who needed depth help on the other night by a back-to-back, was Warrior’s top artist from the bench with seven points and seven returns in 18 minutes.
Again without sidekick Jamal Murray, sideways due to a hamstring injury, Nikola Jokic led Nuggets with 33 points, a match -high 12 returns and a game -high nine assists. He met 13 of his 17 shots and accounted for four of Denver 12 successful 3-point attempts.
Michael Porter Jr. Supported Jokic with 23 points and nine returns, Aaron Gordon had 15 points and eight assists, and Christian Braun collected 16 points and seven returns.
-Field level media
