With just 52 preseason games remaining, the Nuggets played the Warriors in Des Moines, Iowa (for some reason). This game would have made more sense if Denver still had their D-League affiliate in Iowa (the Energy), as the Warriors' D-League affiliate is in Santa Cruz. Regardless, the Nuggets lost 104-101 after dominating most of the contest.
Denver's starting lineup last night: Ty Lawson, 26 minutes, Arron Afflalo 27 minutes, Wilson Chandler, 25 minutes, Kenneth Faried, 23 minutes, and Timofey Mozgov 27 minutes. The good news? The Nuggets got out to a 34-29 lead in the first quarter, won the second 28-24, won the third quarter 23-19, and Andre "the bench point forward" Iguodala had 4 assists, 4 turnovers, and 4 points (on 1-4 shooting).
The bad news? The Nuggets were outscored 32-16 in the fourth quarter and saw their 93-79 lead with 7:08 remaining in the game evaporate in that heavy Iowa air. Denver was outscored 25-8 the rest of the way with the following players on the floor: Erick Green, Gary Harris, Alonzo Gee, Quincy Miller, Jusuf Nurkic, and Marcus Williams (he played the last five minutes in place of Gee).
The result isn't really important. The "Surgery Crew" didn't play in the game: NateRob, Gallo, J.J., McGee, and joining them were Randy Foye (rest), and Jerrelle Benimon drew the only DNP-CD for the Nuggets. The Warriors didn't play Andrew Bogut or Shaun Livingston and Steph Curry (13 pts) and Klay Thompson (18 pts) each played 17 minutes and the two combined to score 31 points. Warriors youngster James McAdoo scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, having his way against the Nuggets' big men.
All the Nuggets starters from last night were plusses in the +/- department, while only Darrell Arthur was a + off the bench. Ty Lawson didn't shoot the ball well, going 1-8 from the field, but he didn't have a good night from the foul line (5-6), and put up 10 assists. Wilson Chandler (6-11 shooting) went for a team-tying-high of 18 points, along with Timofey Mozgov (5-8 shooting, 7-8 free throws).
The Nuggets are now 1-4 in the preseason and play their next game against the Clippers in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Events Center (an annual event now?). The game will be on TV this Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. MT on NBA TV. Also available on radio: 950 am / 104.3 fm.
