Golden State wins, advances
Warriors, Spurs to meet in 2nd round
OAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry had 22 points and eight assists, and Andrew Bogut broke out with the best performance of his injury-saddled season as the Golden State Warriors eliminated the Denver Nuggets with a 92-88 victory in Game 6 on Thursday.
Bogut had season-bests and career-playoff highs of 14 points and 21 rebounds, and rookie Draymond Green added a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds to power Golden State into the second round for the first time in six years.
The Warriors went ahead by 18 points early in the fourth before holding off one final Nuggets flurry.
Andre Iguodala scored 24 points and Ty Lawson had 17 in another disappointing early exit for Denver, which has lost in the first round nine of the past 10 seasons.
The Nuggets won 23 of their final 26 regular-season games to earn the Western Conference’s third seed, then lost four of six to the hot-shooting Warriors.
Golden State outshot the Nuggets only 40.3 percent to 34.7 percent in the finale but dominated the rebounding matchup again, 55-44. The Warriors overcame 21 turnovers — including 10 in the fourth — while the Nuggets had only seven.
Golden State will open the second round at San Antonio on Monday. The Spurs swept the Lakers in four games.
Warriors coach Mark Jackson ratcheted up the rhetoric after the Nuggets won a physical Game 5, saying Denver sent “hit men” out to take “cheap shots” at Curry.
The accusations earned Jackson a $25,000 fine from the NBA for an “attempt to influence the officiating,” though neither side ever got out of control in the finale.
Except Curry’s shooting — again
On the ball or off the dribble, Curry connected all over his home court in another dazzling second half. Curry swished all four of his 3-pointers in the third quarter and brought the announced sellout crowd of 19,596 roaring each time.
He also dribbled behind his back and threw between his legs, crossing over Lawson and zipping a pass through traffic to Bogut for a thunderous dunk.