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Draymond drops perfect Klay joke after Warriors' fifth straight win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Klay Thompson plays for the Dallas Mavericks now, but his spirit lives on within the Warriors organization — through Draymond Green, that is.

The usually fiery Golden State veteran channeled his former teammate’s chill demeanor after the Warriors’ huge 118-104 win over the Denver Nuggets on Friday, with Green’s third game in four days clearly leaving the 35-year-old exhausted.

“I’m sorry I’m giving y’all the lowest energy ever. I’m exhausted,” Green told reporters at Chase Center after the victory. “But, it’s good. I feel like I sound like Klay Thompson up here. Exhausted, dog … I don’t even know how to make [paper airplanes]. I would make them and fly it across, but I don’t know how to do it.”

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Green was pivotal in the Warriors’ fifth consecutive win, delivering another clutch defensive performance that has his name atop the NBA Defensive Player of the Year conversation.

The Golden State star helped slow down NBA MVP candidate Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets’ high-powered offense, just one night after locking up Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić and three days after posting a triple-double in the Warriors’ win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

That's our DPOY 😤pic.twitter.com/mQsX2s5OuQ

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 5, 2025

So, it’s certainly safe to say Green was feeling tired. Thompson was and still is known for his laid-back postgame pressers, often folding his stat sheet into a paper airplane to whisk into the crowd of reporters as he answered a question. And Green always has been the opposite, whether it’s engaging in back-and-forths with the press or providing insightful — albeit long-winded — responses.

But not on Friday night.

“I’m exhausted,” Green said. “I just want to go home, relax, go to sleep. I’m tired.”

Same, Draymond, same 😴 pic.twitter.com/QzZzIvL5PH

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 5, 2025

Green is giving it his all as the Warriors enter their final five regular-season games holding onto the Western Conference’s No. 5 playoff seed. And with the Mavericks sitting in the No. 9 spot, perhaps Green and Thompson will meet again on the court before all is said and done.

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By Rob Peterson, Jenna West and Rebecca Tauber

Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles capped off their illustrious careers by being named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class announced at the men’s Final Four in San Antonio on Saturday.

“It’s such a big honor. I’m just so happy, man, this is crazy. I made it to heaven,” Howard said as he teared up in an interview on ESPN after the announcement.

The 2025 class also includes coach Billy Donovan, who won two national championships at Florida and is the current longtime coach of the Chicago Bulls; longtime NBA referee Danny Crawford, who officiated more than 2,000 NBA games over 32 seasons, including 30 finals games; and Miami Heat owner Micky Arison, who has seen his franchise win three titles (2006, 2012, 2013) and seven Eastern Conference championships, including four consecutive from 2011 to 2014. The 2008 “Redeem Team” that took gold at the Beijing Olympics will also be inducted.

Jeff Twiss, the Boston Celtics’ longtime public relations executive, received the John Bunn Award, the Hall’s single-highest award short of enshrinement in the Hall itself. He’s been with the franchise for more than 40 years and is regarded as one of the great professionals on his side of the player-media divide.

Melo doesn’t need an NBA title to enter the Hall

There had been recent online scuttlebutt regarding Anthony’s Hall of Fame credentials because he had never won an NBA title. (He never appeared in an NBA Finals, let alone won a ring.)

But let’s be real here: Anthony entering the Hall of Fame on his first try shouldn’t surprise anyone who paid attention. In 2003, he was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player before leading Syracuse to its only men’s NCAA title. Selected third in the legendary 2003 NBA Draft, Anthony used one of the silkiest shooting strokes to accumulate 28,289 points, 10th on the NBA career scoring list. He’s also a four-time Olympic medalist in men’s basketball, three of them gold in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

The list of players who have scored 28,000-plus points and won an NCAA title, an NBA scoring title (28.7 points per game in 2013) and three Olympic gold medals is a party of one: Anthony.

In a “ringz” culture, it would be easy to cite the lack of an NBA championship (“I’m at peace,” Anthony told Sports Illustrated in 2023) on Anthony’s 19-year career résumé or a major individual award (one top-three MVP finish in 2013) as a reason to downplay his Hall credentials. Still, the 10-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA player built a storied career few, if any, can match.

Howard built his HOF résumé early in his career

Like Anthony, there have been questions about Howard’s Hall of Fame worthiness as people point to his late-career journey. He played for six teams in seven seasons (including the Los Angeles Lakers twice, winning a title with them in the 2020 bubble) and put up pedestrian numbers (11.1 points per game, 10.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 433 games). He was even waived twice, once by Brooklyn in 2018 and once by Memphis in 2019, without playing a game for either franchise.

But Howard built his résumé for Springfield, Mass., early in his career. The Orlando Magic tabbed Howard with the No. 1 pick in 2004, and he made an immediate impact for the franchise. He played in 567 of 574 games in his first seven seasons, led the Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals and won Defensive Player of the Year in three consecutive seasons from 2009 to 2011. Starting with the 2007-08 season, he led the NBA in rebounds five of six seasons, was named First Team All-NBA for five straight seasons and was top-five in MVP voting for four consecutive seasons.

Howard also led the NBA in blocks in 2009 and 2010. His three DPOY awards place him second behind Dikembe Mutombo, Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert, who each have four. Wallace and Mutombo are in the Hall of Fame; Gobert is still in the NBA. Howard’s 14,627 rebounds put him 10th on the NBA’s career list, and his 2,228 blocks place him 13th all time.

Add in eight All-Star selections, eight All-NBA teams and a 2008 Olympic gold medal during his 18-year career, it’s easy to see why Howard is headed for the Hall. —

Bird enters Naismith as assists leader

Bird enters the Hall after retiring from a 21-year career with the Seattle Storm, during which she won four WNBA titles. From 2002 until her retirement in 2022, Bird tallied a league-leading 3,234 assists and appeared in 580 games.

Before the Storm selected her with the first pick of the 2002 draft, Bird was a star at UConn, guiding the Huskies to two NCAA titles. She also boasts Olympic gold medals from five consecutive Summer Games.

“In the same moment that I’m thinking about the next generation, inspiring them, I’m thinking about those that came before and inspired me,” Bird said in an ESPN interview after the announcement.

Moore built a legacy on and off the court

Moore won four WNBA championships with the Minnesota Lynx, who drafted her with the No. 1 pick in 2011. She was the league’s 2014 Most Valuable Player and won the WNBA Finals MVP in 2013. Moore also won two Olympic gold medals for the U.S.

“It’s just such a humbling thing, because it really makes you feel the bigness of the family of basketball,” Moore said on ESPN.

Moore was a member of UConn’s 90-game winning streak, going 150-4 with the Huskies during her college career.

In 2019, Moore paused her career to advocate for criminal justice reform, helping free her now-husband, Jonathan Irons, from prison due to a wrongful conviction. Moore was also a leader in the Lynx’s protests against police brutality in 2016, helping set the stage for growing political activism across the WNBA in future years.

Fowles stood out with dominant defense, double-doubles

Fowles was a two-time champion with the Lynx and a two-time WNBA Finals MVP. She won four Olympic gold medals for the U.S. and is an eight-time All-Star over her 15 seasons in the league. She was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year four times and led the WNBA in blocks twice.

Fowles is second in WNBA career rebounds at 4,006. In college, she led LSU to four Final Four appearances before being drafted second in 2008 by the Chicago Sky.

In 2018, Fowles became the first player on the Lynx to achieve a 20-point, 20-rebound stat line, with 23 points and 20 rebounds in a game against the Dallas Wings.

“I don’t think neither one of us go into this thinking that we’re gonna be Hall of Famers,” Fowles said on ESPN. “You just do your job, and you go out there and have fun and you enjoy the company, and then when it’s all said and done, the job is complete. And here we are.”

Enshrining ‘The Redeem Team’

Between the Dream Team’s debut in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics through the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, USA Basketball’s men’s team was a dominant force in international basketball, winning three Olympic gold medals and the 1994 FIBA World Championship. That dominance ended in 2002 with a sixth-place finish at the FIBA World Championships, the first time NBA professionals lost in an international competition. (NBA players were locked out in 1998, and weren’t allowed to participate in the FIBA World Championships that year.)

At the 2004 Athens games, the men’s team was filled with talent — Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Anthony and Dwyane Wade — and finished with a bronze medal.

With that third-place finish, USA Basketball was determined to get back to gold medal status and began to require multi-year commitments from players to build a better organizational culture. With James, Anthony and Wade committing through the 2006 FIBA World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, that trio saw the U.S. finish third in 2006.

In 2008, with those three cornerstones, Team USA added Chris Bosh and, most importantly, Kobe Bryant in their quest to recapture Olympic gold. Bryant provided a razor-sharp competitive edge to a group of young players who needed it. The team, also featuring future Hall of Famers Jason Kidd and Howard, won its five pool play games by an average of 32.2 points. In the medal rounds, the Americans crushed Australia by 30 and Argentina by 20 in the semifinals before defeating Spain 118-107 in what is considered by some as one of the greatest basketball games ever played.

The Redeem Team is the third U.S. men’s Olympic team enshrined in Springfield, with the 1960 gold medal team featuring Oscar Robertson and Jerry West, and the Dream Team.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, NBA, Men's College Basketball, WNBA

2025 The Athletic Media Company

Steph driven by desire over wisdom amid Warriors' final playoff push originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – It would have been wise of Stephen Curry to spend Friday on the bench in designer sweats, giving his sore pelvis a couple days to heal, watching the Warriors try to shed three years of despair.

But with nine days remaining in the 2024-25 NBA season and the Warriors caught in the maelstrom of the Western Conference playoff chase, Curry is driven more by desire than wisdom. He is following what his heart wants, not what his body needs.

Spectating was out of the question. He ignored the “questionable” tag on the injury report because that designation might have influence in November but not in April. This is when Savage Steph is on the prowl.

Curry announced his plans to Golden State coach Steve Kerr and team health and performance honcho Dr. Rick Celebrini, strapped a pad to his backside, dashed onto the court, scored 36 points in 32 minutes and led a 118-104 throttling of the Nuggets that snapped a nine-game losing streak to Denver.

Some risks are worth a little agony. Jimmy Butler III, nursing a strained left forearm, also was listed as questionable. He also played. The third and relatively healthiest member of the team’s veteran core, Draymond Green, also answered the call.

Never was there a doubt, though, that Curry not only would put himself through an evening of discomfort but also invite even more if that’s what it would take to get the W.

“The conversation is just context of where we are in the season,” Curry said. “But if any of us felt physically like we weren’t ready to go or could put ourselves in jeopardy of taking a couple steps back physically, then you have a different decision.
“But we all felt good. We got in at a decent hour. Rick and Steve are pretty proactive on some of those conversations. When we all talked about it this morning, it was a full green light.”

Curry’s redoubtable will was on display in the final five minutes of the second quarter. Playing their third game in four nights and second in two, the fatigued Warriors sagged through the first quarter and fell behind by 10 points. When Curry reentered in the second quarter, he flooded the Nuggets with a torrent of buckets, scoring 12 points in less than four minutes.

That drove the first stake into the heart of Golden State’s longest losing streak against any team in the NBA.

Curry had teammates to inspire. A Chase Center sellout crowd to thrill. And there he was – in moments of temporary insanity – landing on the sorest part of his body after intentionally drawing charge calls from bigger opponents.

The two-time MVP and four-time NBA champ is all-in on his team’s drive for another triumphant season. His mission is visible on his face. The faraway stares. The brief curling of his upper lip. The glee with which he is dissecting defenses and terrorizing individual defenders.

“There is a completely different focus, and you see the focus everywhere,” Green said of his longtime teammate. “It’s not just once he steps on the court. It’s in his practices, in his workouts. He’s on the phone he’s talking . . . he’s suggesting substitution patterns. He’s just all the way in.

“He gets into the weeds around this time. We try to keep him out of the weeds all year because it can be a bit exhausting. But he kind of knows when it’s time for him to get in the weeds, and he is right now.”

Curry’s 36-point game on Friday followed a 37-point outburst Thursday against the Lakers in Los Angeles, which followed a 52-point performance Tuesday in Memphis. Three games, four days, 125 points, three Golden State victories.

“In three different cities, at (age) 37,” Kerr said, marveling. “He looked so fast out there tonight. Maybe it’s his most underrated part of his game is his conditioning. Just incredible what he does out there, especially considering how much attention he draws defensively, how much pressure people put on him. He handles it night after night and flourishes, incredible athlete.”

The Warriors were 10th in the Western Conference standings on Feb. 1. Butler made his debut on Feb. 8 and they’d moved to seventh by March 1. The win over the Grizzlies on Tuesday lifted them to fifth place. They went to bed Friday night one-half game behind fourth-place Denver and one full game behind the third-place Los Angeles Lakers.

Golden State is 20-2 when Curry, Green and Butler are in the lineup. Their last two losses, at Atlanta and at Miami, came in games Curry was sidelined due to the initial pelvic injury.

A chance to beat a longtime tormentor? An opportunity to push Golden State’s win streak to five? A night to give his team what only he can provide?

Tender tailbone and all, Curry was going to play. Never should have been a doubt.

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Luka Doncic and LeBron James helped the Los Angeles Lakers to a comfortable victory against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Doncic put on a game-high 35 points with team-mate Austin Reaves adding 30, while James scored 27 points with eight assists in a 124-108 win.

The Lakers bounced back from defeat against the Golden State Warriors to further boost their hopes of a top-four finish in the Western Conference.

It is the sixth successive win for the Lakers over the Pelicans, including three victories this season.

Elsewhere, Western Conference leaders the Oklahoma City Thunder, who host the Lakers in back-to-back games on Sunday and Tuesday, saw an 11-game winning streak ended against the Houston Rockets.

Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun combined for 65 points to triumph 125-111 in Houston.

The Boston Celtics set a new record for the number of three-pointers scored in a single season during their 123-103 win over the Phoenix Suns.

Boston, the defending NBA champions, scored 14 at TD Garden to take their overall tally to 1,370, eclipsing the previous record of 1,363 set by the Golden State Warriors in 2022-23.

Simply put, the Clippers' goal is to “make the playoffs,” coach Tyronn Lue said, and not be a play-in team.

The Clippers moved closer to that goal Friday in a 114-91 rout of the Dallas Mavericks at the Intuit Dome.

Having won 10 of their last 12 games, the Clippers are putting themselves in position to potentially avoid the play-in the tight Western Conference playoff race.

At 45-32, the Clippers are tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies, one game behind the fifth–seeded Golden State Warriors. The Clippers are seventh in the West with five games left in the regular season, three against teams jockeying to secure a playoff berth at sixth or higher.

Read more:Kawhi Leonard leads Clippers to a dominant win over the Pelicans amid playoff push

“Everyone is in a playoff mode already,” said Clippers center Ivica Zubac, who was strong again with 14 points and 13 rebounds. “Everyone is trying to stay out of the play-in. You don’t want to depend on one game or two games for your seed, for your chances to get into the playoffs. You want to get out of it. You want to make that top six so everyone is fighting for the playoff spots.

“Everyone is treating every game like the playoffs. Honestly, it’s fun. I think what the NBA did with that play-in, I think it’s a really good thing. It’s very competitive and it’s been good. The last few weeks have been fun. You just kind of lock in, treat it as a playoff game, a must-win, and I’m sure other teams are like that too.”

Against a depleted Dallas team, the Clippers built a 35-point lead and basically coasted. Six Clippers scored in double figures and none played more than 32 minutes.

Kawhi Leonard led the way with 20 points on eight-for-17 shooting with six rebounds and two assists.

Norman Powell was solid, finishing with 14 points and shooting two for five from three-point range to give him a career-high 172 threes this season.

James Harden had 13 points and five assists.

“Going into the playoffs playing well, that’s our main goal,” Lue said. “We know a lot of teams are jumbled up right now. So, we just got to take care of business, a game at a time and try to separate ourselves the best we can.”

In Lue’s eyes, the Clippers are meeting the moment at a critical time.

“I see them responding,” Lue said. “I think the last 10 games we played so far have been playoff games. Like, we have to win pretty much every game. Like, to solidify that sixth spot, we understand that and our guys understand that. So, going into the playoffs, we’ve had these games for like our last 15.

"So, it should be good for us, just having that intensity, having that understanding and awareness that tonight, every night is an important game to try to make the playoffs.”

Read more:Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell lead Clippers to win over Magic

The Clippers host the Mavericks again Saturday. Leonard, who played 24 minutes Friday, hasn’t played in back-to-back games since returning from a right knee injury. He told reporters he wasn’t talking after the game but would “double up” on his media obligations Saturday night.

That seemed to suggest Leonard might play Saturday.

“He’ll be evaluated tomorrow,” Lue said.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Jaxson Hayes tapped Luka Doncic on the leg. Maxi Kleber walked by and quietly did the same. And Markieff Morris plopped down next to his teammate and put his arm on the back of Doncic’s chair.

The entire time the Lakers' star guard just stared blankly ahead. The joy he brought since getting comfortable in Los Angeles disappeared, a miserable 0 for 7 first shift compounding upon a performance he called “unacceptable” the night before in a loss to the Golden State Warriors.

With the Lakers playing one of the worst teams in the league in the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, Doncic was getting scorched by pesky guard Jose Alvarado and was plainly frustrated.

Read more:Lakers show fight, but Luka Doncic's 'unacceptable' struggles prove costly in loss to Warriors

But when he checked back in during the second quarter, the Lakers had found a little footing and traces of rhythm, and he cut backdoor to score his first basket on an easy layup.

The Lakers weren’t perfect the rest of the way in a 124-108 win in their penultimate home game of the regular season, but they certainly weren’t smothered in the dark cloud that covered Doncic for much of the previous two games.

And as they worked their way through his slump, the Lakers did the kind of things they’ll certainly need in bulk as they prepare for back-to-back games against the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.

The game came amid discussion surrounding a worrisome stat for the Lakers (47-30) — the team actually had been outscored by 24 points in the 320 minutes Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves had shared the court.

“I don't make a ton of it,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the game. “I don't think the expectation, at least internally for us, was we're going to be the 2016-2017 Warriors or this year's Oklahoma City Thunder. We didn't expect that. So the disjointedness of an in-season trade is there.

“Those guys, I think, are committed to making it work with each other when they're on the court. ... They're committed to making it work when there are two of them on the court or one of them is on the court. It's a work in progress. We all knew that was gonna be the case."

In the best moments Friday, the trio looked almost unstoppable. James found Reaves in the corner on a no-look pass for a three-pointer. Doncic hit James underneath the basket for an easy bucket. And in the game’s biggest highlight, Reaves led a fast break in the middle of the court with Doncic running to the right and James to the left, flipping the ball behind his back before connecting with James on a lob for a dunk.

The three have been pretty dominant when playing together in recent games. Against the Warriors, despite Doncic’s struggles, the Lakers were plus-13.9 points per 100 possessions with James, Reaves and Doncic on the court. Against Houston earlier in the week, the Lakers were plus-20.8 when they played.

They all had their moments of dominance against the Pelicans (21-56). Doncic finished with 35 points, looking like a player who recaptured his mojo. Reaves continued his play as one of the league’s top complementary scorers, finishing with 30 points on only 13 attempts. And James, who said he’s feeling his best since injuring his groin, scored 27 and had eight assists.

The win, combined with Denver’s loss to the Warriors, has the Lakers third in the West.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

How Steph, Warriors exorcised Nuggets demons in statement win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – For the first six and half minutes of the second quarter, the two biggest superstars of Friday night’s Warriors game against the Denver Nuggets, Steph Curry and Nikola Jokić, were either sitting on the bench or waiting their turn at the scorer’s table. 

It was up to their teammates to either carry the load or crumble without them. The Warriors hadn’t beat the Nuggets since the 2022 NBA playoffs. These two teams had played nine games since then, including six on Golden State’s home court at Chase Center, and all nine ended in the Nuggets’ favor. 

Behind Curry’s 36 points, the Warriors finally overcame their Denver demons to the roaring tune of a 118-104 win. First, it all began without Curry. 

Having to rally back from a 10-point deficit after the first quarter, the second quarter began without Curry and Jokić on the floor. If the Nuggets took advantage of Curry’s absence, the Warriors could have found themselves in an impossible hole to climb out of on the second night of a back-to-back in which they came home from a six-game road trip that spanned two weeks.

Instead, the Warriors opened with a 7-0 run through the first three-plus minutes of the second quarter, bringing them within three points of the Nuggets, prompting a timeout from Denver coach Michael Malone. 

The Nuggets didn’t score until more than four minutes had passed in the second quarter. Upping the intensity and finding their second wind, the Warriors’ defense held the Nuggets to only 16 second-quarter points. All season long, opponents have crossed their fingers in hopes of slowing down Denver’s offense just enough, knowing fully stopping them almost never was going to happen. 

They shot 35 percent from the field in the second quarter (7 of 20) and went 2 of 10 from 3-point range. What changed?

“Just our physicality,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I thought we got into the ball, were more physical. The first quarter they were just doing anything they wanted. Jokić was incredible. They were hitting everything. Started forcing turnovers. 

“We forced 26 for the game, and it felt like the second quarter is when it changed.” 

Through the first 12 minutes, aside from a short stretch, the Warriors and Nuggets traded buckets. The Warriors scored a respectable 34 points in the opening frame on 54.5-percent shooting (12 of 22) and made half of their threes (4 of 8). But the Nuggets were even better, dropping 44 points on an absurd 70.8-percent clip and also shot 50 percent on 3-pointers (3 of 6). 

Denver’s size advantage saw them score 26 of its 44 first-quarter points in the paint. The Nuggets then only scored eight points in the paint during the second quarter. 

“They started to feel us,” Draymond Green said. “That first quarter was kind of a track meet. You shoot, I shoot. Whoever made the most shots won the quarter. They did, and we gave them 44 points. But we got our defense settled in to start the second quarter, and then when the group came back they continued it for the rest of the quarter. Sixteen-point quarter was huge. 

“Once we got the 44 under control I think we pretty much took care of them the rest of the game.” 

While Curry watched from the sidelines, a group of Green, Brandin Podziemski, Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody and Quinten Post shined. By the time Curry came back, as well as Jokic, the Warriors only trailed by one point with five minutes and 33 seconds left in the first half. 

Everybody was part of the action during that span. No one player went on a major scoring run.

Butler scored four points, Moody had three, Post had three, and both Green and Podziemski each contributed two points. The Warriors had a 14-5 advantage to begin the second quarter once Curry was back. 

“That’s been a really good lineup for us since we got Jimmy,” Kerr said. “That top of the second, top of the fourth lineup. It’s been very effective against everybody.” 

Defense fuels the five-man unit. The spacing Post provides as a 7-footer gives Butler the necessary room to work with. And when Podziemski shoots like he has the last two games, making 12 threes and scoring 54 points, it’s going to be a tough group to beat for any team. 

They played a tad under 10 minutes together overall and were a plus-10, outscoring the Nuggets 22-12.

Green, however, has an even simpler answer than Kerr.

“Jimmy Butler,” Green said. “Got another one in that group. That group has struggled at times because we just – no No. 1 out there. We got a one now. … Yeah, we added Jimmy Butler to that group and he changes everything.” 

But who are we kidding? This team still jumps on the back of Curry and rides him to the finish line. 

Curry in the final five and a half minutes of the second quarter scored 12 points. Jokic scored two. The Warriors as a whole scored 32, putting them ahead by six points going into halftime.

Jokic then exploded for 14 points in the third quarter, five more than Curry’s nine points, only for Steph to outscore him 8-2 in the fourth quarter. 

The Warriors know the back and forth nature of the Western Conference standings. They understand what they must do to avoid the dreaded play-in tournament. And Curry, he was well aware of the Warriors’ losing streak to the Nuggets and what a win over them would mean spiritually for a team to take down three of the conference’s best in a grueling gauntlet of the schedule. 

“We knew about the streak for sure,” he said. “It is a little extra motivation of needing a win to stand pat in the standings. And just the idea that it’s a back-to-back and everybody talks a little about schedule losses and all that type of stuff. We wanted to rise to the level of the challenge of coming off a six-game, 13-day road trip and getting a good night sleep in your bed. 

“But you got to go back to work and perform, and we did that. It’s nice to beat those guys, because it’s been rough.”

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How Steph, Warriors excorcised Nuggets demons in statement win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – For the first six and half minutes of the second quarter, the two biggest superstars of Friday night’s Warriors game against the Denver Nuggets, Steph Curry and Nikola Jokić, were either sitting on the bench or waiting their turn at the scorer’s table. 

It was up to their teammates to either carry the load or crumble without them. The Warriors hadn’t beat the Nuggets since the 2022 NBA playoffs. These two teams had played nine games since then, including six on Golden State’s home court at Chase Center, and all nine ended in the Nuggets’ favor. 

Behind Curry’s 36 points, the Warriors finally overcame their Denver demons to the roaring tune of a 118-104 win. First, it all began without Curry. 

Having to rally back from a 10-point deficit after the first quarter, the second quarter began without Curry and Jokić on the floor. If the Nuggets took advantage of Curry’s absence, the Warriors could have found themselves in an impossible hole to climb out of on the second night of a back-to-back in which they came home from a six-game road trip that spanned two weeks.

Instead, the Warriors opened with a 7-0 run through the first three-plus minutes of the second quarter, bringing them within three points of the Nuggets, prompting a timeout from Denver coach Michael Malone. 

The Nuggets didn’t score until more than four minutes had passed in the second quarter. Upping the intensity and finding their second wind, the Warriors’ defense held the Nuggets to only 16 second-quarter points. All season long, opponents have crossed their fingers in hopes of slowing down Denver’s offense just enough, knowing fully stopping them almost never was going to happen. 

They shot 35 percent from the field in the second quarter (7 of 20) and went 2 of 10 from 3-point range. What changed?

“Just our physicality,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I thought we got into the ball, were more physical. The first quarter they were just doing anything they wanted. Jokić was incredible. They were hitting everything. Started forcing turnovers. 

“We forced 26 for the game, and it felt like the second quarter is when it changed.” 

Through the first 12 minutes, aside from a short stretch, the Warriors and Nuggets traded buckets. The Warriors scored a respectable 34 points in the opening frame on 54.5-percent shooting (12 of 22) and made half of their threes (4 of 8). But the Nuggets were even better, dropping 44 points on an absurd 70.8-percent clip and also shot 50 percent on 3-pointers (3 of 6). 

Denver’s size advantage saw them score 26 of its 44 first-quarter points in the paint. The Nuggets then only scored eight points in the paint during the second quarter. 

“They started to feel us,” Draymond Green said. “That first quarter was kind of a track meet. You shoot, I shoot. Whoever made the most shots won the quarter. They did, and we gave them 44 points. But we got our defense settled in to start the second quarter, and then when the group came back they continued it for the rest of the quarter. Sixteen-point quarter was huge. 

“Once we got the 44 under control I think we pretty much took care of them the rest of the game.” 

While Curry watched from the sidelines, a group of Green, Brandin Podziemski, Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody and Quinten Post shined. By the time Curry came back, as well as Jokic, the Warriors only trailed by one point with five minutes and 33 seconds left in the first half. 

Everybody was part of the action during that span. No one player went on a major scoring run.

Butler scored four points, Moody had three, Post had three, and both Green and Podziemski each contributed two points. The Warriors had a 14-5 advantage to begin the second quarter once Curry was back. 

“That’s been a really good lineup for us since we got Jimmy,” Kerr said. “That top of the second, top of the fourth lineup. It’s been very effective against everybody.” 

Defense fuels the five-man unit. The spacing Post provides as a 7-footer gives Butler the necessary room to work with. And when Podziemski shoots like he has the last two games, making 12 threes and scoring 54 points, it’s going to be a tough group to beat for any team. 

They played a tad under 10 minutes together overall and were a plus-10, outscoring the Nuggets 22-12.

Green, however, has an even simpler answer than Kerr.

“Jimmy Butler,” Green said. “Got another one in that group. That group has struggled at times because we just – no No. 1 out there. We got a one now. … Yeah, we added Jimmy Butler to that group and he changes everything.” 

But who are we kidding? This team still jumps on the back of Curry and rides him to the finish line. 

Curry in the final five and a half minutes of the second quarter scored 12 points. Jokic scored two. The Warriors as a whole scored 32, putting them ahead by six points going into halftime.

Jokic then exploded for 14 points in the third quarter, five more than Curry’s nine points, only for Steph to outscore him 8-2 in the fourth quarter. 

The Warriors know the back and forth nature of the Western Conference standings. They understand what they must do to avoid the dreaded play-in tournament. And Curry, he was well aware of the Warriors’ losing streak to the Nuggets and what a win over them would mean spiritually for a team to take down three of the conference’s best in a grueling gauntlet of the schedule. 

“We knew about the streak for sure,” he said. “It is a little extra motivation of needing a win to stand pat in the standings. And just the idea that it’s a back-to-back and everybody talks a little about schedule losses and all that type of stuff. We wanted to rise to the level of the challenge of coming off a six-game, 13-day road trip and getting a good night sleep in your bed. 

“But you got to go back to work and perform, and we did that. It’s nice to beat those guys, because it’s been rough.”

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Jaylen has jokes for Porzingis after big man's nasty cut on nose originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Kristaps Porzingis quickly diffused a scary moment Friday night at TD Garden.

The Boston Celtics big man took an elbow to the face from Phoenix Suns wing Cody Martin while defending the paint in the fourth quarter of Friday’s matchup and started bleeding from his nose while lying on the hardwood.

Porzingis quickly got to his feet with a big smile, however, and started pumping up the home crowd as he walked toward the locker room with a trainer.

The cut on Porzingis’ nose required stitches, but while he didn’t return to the game– a 123-103 Celtics rout — he seemed to avoid any serious injury. That meant he was open to chiding from his teammates, and good friend Jaylen Brown happily obliged.

“I told KP, ‘The stitches can’t make you uglier than you already are,'” Brown joked in his 1-on-1 with Abby Chin after the game, as seen in the video player above.

Celtics big man Luke Kornet, meanwhile, got a rise out of watching Porzingis channel his inner wrestler by hyping up the crowd as blood streamed from his nose.

“I feel like for anyone to have just blood dripping down the middle of their face — kind of the whole wrestler persona, the UFC-type persona — I feel like KP was perfect for that,” Kornet said in an exclusive interview with Celtics Postgame Live.

Porzingis has always had a great relationship with the Garden crowd, and his ability to feed off their energy even while dealing with a bloody nose will only add to his legend in Boston.

The C’s are back in action Sunday at TD Garden against the Washington Wizards, with tip-off at 6 p.m. ET.

Podz reveals mindset shift behind 3-point shooting revival  originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski saved his best for the most vital stretch of the season. 

Since March 18, the 22-year-old guard leads the NBA in 3-pointers made with 34 (h/t StatMuse) after netting four in Golden State’s 118-104 win over the Denver Nuggets on Friday night at Chase Center.

Battling injuries and struggling to establish a shooting rhythm early on in the season, the second-year Warriors guard revealed the mindset reset behind his recent three-point revival.

“Yeah, I got some great people on my corner that I talk with extensively about it,” Podziemski admitted to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike on “Warriors Postgame Live.”

“Really breaking shooting down to the physics of it: How my body moves and things that are going to help me personally. [I’m] just trying to stay consistent and stay in the moment.” 

On Thursday night, Podziemski netted a career-best 8 of 10 from 3-point range in the Warriors’ win over the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Although Podziemski’s 3-point shooting on Friday night fell below his personal record, his overall performance in recent weeks has been remarkable.

Spot the difference 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/EUHIwv3JT7

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 5, 2025

Teammate Steph Curry, who has been on a run of his own, sits at 32 3-pointers made since March 18 – two behind Podziemski. 

Cognizant of the ups and downs of playing against the best, Podziemski is prioritizing a level-headed approach when it comes to shooting from deep. 

“Sometimes, you make two, three in a row and you get excited and start taking bad ones or rush it,” Podziemski added. “[I’m] just trying to stay in the moment and take one shot at a time, like it’s my last shot. And that’s all I’ve been focused on. 

“Like I said to you guys in November when I was struggling, I always [knew] the percentages were going to even out to where they should be because I know how much time and effort I put into the gym. To see it paying off at the right time of the year, it’s really good for me.” 

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