Warriors’ win streak snapped by Nuggets
THE Denver ver Nuggets stunned the Golden State ate Warriors 96-81 on Saturday, holding ng the NBA champions to a season-low w in points and snapping their 11-game ame winning streak.
The Warriors riors high-octane offence – which they’ve y’ve maintained despite a spate of injuries uries that include twotime NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry’s urry’s sprained ankle – sputtered d all night.
“It was frustrating ustrating for sure,” said Kevin n Durant (pictured, AFP), FP), w h o l e d the Warrior s wit h 18 points, but connected on just s i x o f 1 7 shots from m the field and couldn’t get any of his five 3-point attempts to drop. He wasn’t the only one suffering. suffe Klay Thompson was six-of-21 from the field, and one-of-10 from 3-point range in produ producing 15 points.
Overall, the Warriors made 32 of their thei 83 shots from the floor, f and just three of 27 from 3-point range as t h e y p r o d u c e d their season-low se in points. poin
They missed from beyond b the arc, they the missed layups – Andre I g u o d a l a w a s stunned to miss a dunk.
A l l t hose hos misses took a tol t ol l, l , Du r a nt said.
“It’s a feelgood game,” he said. “You want to make shots – that’s what gets us going, t hat’s what gets t he crowd going. So you ca n feel t he energ y – after ever y miss Denver was just ta king it away from us as far as energ y was concerned.”
The Nuggets took full advantage, with Gary Harris scoring 19 points to lead a balanced attack that saw five Denver players score double figures.
Nikola Jokic added 18 points, Wilson Chandler and Trey Lyles scored 15 apiece, and Jamal Murray chipped in 14 as Denver followed up Friday’s win at Portland with another impressive road victory.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr insisted his team would put the disappointing outing behind them before hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers in today’s Christmas Day showcase – a rematch of the past three NBA Finals.
“You flush this down the toilet and move on,” Kerr said.
The Easter n Conference-lead i ng Boston Celt ics warmed up for t heir Christmas tilt against t he Washington Wizards with a 117-92 romp past t he Chicago Bulls.
The Celtics outscored the Bulls 38-18 in the third quarter to pull away, avenging a humbling defeat in Chicago two weeks ago in which Boston scored a season-low 85 points.
Boston guard Kyrie Irving scored 25 points and handed out seven assists as the Celtics bounced back from a loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday.
In Salt Lake City, reigning NBA MVP Russell Westbrook posted his 11th triple-double of the season to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 100-89 victory over the Utah Jazz.
Westbrook scored 27 points with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.