Nuggets 3-pointers: Initial observations from Game 5

Demarcus Cousins is … magic? Welcome to the party, Boogie! The Nuggets were going to need every hand on every deck to make this a series again, and Cousins, the veteran big man (and former Warrior), did his part. Big- game Boogie accounted for the Nuggets’ last seven points of the third quarter, including a wide- open trey from the top as time expired to give the visitors a 78-70 cushion going into the final stanza. Four minutes into the fourth quarter, Cousins had put up 19 points, a new single- game career postseason high, helping coach Michael Malone rest starter Nikola Jokic, who was dealing with four fouls and a wonky right hamstring late in the second half.

Aaron Gordon, that’s how you respond. When Golden State elected to start the tilt with its “Death lineup,” coach Steve Kerr was almost daring the Nuggets to beat them inside.

Gordon, whose postseason track record as a Nugget has underwhelmed (to put it kindly), took that as a challenge. The 6-foot- 8 Gordon set the tone for his evening by driving right to the bucket on Denver’s first possession, then posting up the smaller Warriors wings when the opportunity presented itself. When Green got chippy halfway through the first quarter, the normally quiet Gordon gave it right back. The forward finished the first half with a team-high 15 points. He’d averaged 13.5 points per game in the series’ first four games.

Nuggets made the first half what it needed to be: Ugly. The slick, skilled Warriors try to turn things into a fast-paced game of P-I-G. The Nuggets countered by doing the smart thing — dragging the hosts into the mud. Coach Michael Malone’s cadre went to the foul line 20 times in the first two quarters compared to Golden State’s seven and outrebounded the Warriors at the half, 29-19. The best stretch might’ve been in the final 2:57 minutes of the first half, which saw the Nuggs close the quarter on a 5-3 run. In Games 1 and 2, the Warriors outscored Denver by an average margin of 13- 5 over the final 2:57 of the second quarter.