The Golden State Warriors are the first western conference team to advance to the second round of the playoffs. They defeated the injury-riddled Denver Nuggets in 5 games with Stephen Curry coming off the bench for 4 of them. The death lineup of Curry, Thompson, Poole, Green, and Wiggins was too much to handle for Nikola Jokic all by himself.
The reigning MVP was exhausted by the end of the game each night doing everything on the court. They are still fairly young and the return of Jamal Murray and MPJ will threaten contenders next season.
The Warriors will go on to face the winner of the matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves. Ja Morant and co eliminated the Warriors in the play-in tournament. In case they emerge victorious over the Timberwolves the second-round series is going to be interesting.
Stephen Curry is the second-leading scorer in the fourth quarter
After missing over 10 games in the month of April due to ankle strain, Stephen Curry came back stronger than ever in the postseason. Steve Kerr decided to bring him off the bench but that did not affect his impact on the game. In his second game back, the baby face assassin dropped 34 points in 23 minutes.
In most matchups Golden State had a comfortable lead they never lost. But in Game 4 Jokic and co pulled off a surprising win. Game 5 was expected to go in a similar manner after the Nuggets entered fourth quarter with an 8-point lead.
Stephen Curry went off with a couple of threes and crucial layups that brought GSW back in the game. He answer everytime Denver scored and single handedly closed the series out. Even in Game 4 he made a solid attempt to sweep Denver. However, that did not workout
The 3x champion is currently second in fourth quarter scoring. However, his minutes are nowhere comparable to the top 5 players in fourth quarter scoring. In addition, he is shooting an exceptional 60% from the field in the final quarter with highest +/-. Chris Paul leads the league in final quarter scoring category but with Curry finally in the starting lineup the standings might change.