Steph Curry hit all eight of his field-goal attempts and scored 17 of his 24 points in the third quarter, leading the visiting Golden State Warriors over the Denver Nuggets 134-114 on Monday night for their first win of the season.
Curry made a trio of 3-pointers and all five of his free-throw attempts to complete his perfect night.
Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg scored a career-high 31 points and added 12 rebounds, Brandin Podziemski scored 18 points, Gui Santos contributed 13 and Al Horford had 11 for Golden State.
DeMar DeRozan scored a team-high 21 points, Nikola Jokic finished with 19 points and 11 assists, Jamal Murray also had 19 points and Bryce Hopkins added 13 points for Denver, which played the final 8:34 without Aaron Gordon after the forward was hit with two technicals.
The Nuggets, who rallied from 23 down against New Orleans to win in overtime Saturday night, couldn’t find the formula to overcome another big deficit against the Warriors. Denver trailed by 24 in the fourth quarter and never got closer than 13.
Golden State rested Curry, Podziemski, Draymond Green and Al Horford in a loss at Phoenix on Saturday night, and it paid off Monday night. The Warriors trailed by eight in the first quarter and then grabbed the lead to open the second on two 3-pointers from Georges Niang.
They answered the Nuggets’ initial surge to open the fourth quarter. Niang hit another from deep, Curry made a layup and two free throws and Lendeborg hit two from the line to give Golden State a 20-point lead.
Murray’s layup midway through the fourth cut it to 15 but nine straight points by the Warriors iced it.
Curry made his only field-goal attempt in the first half but the Warriors led 60-56 at intermission. He scored five quick points to start the third quarter when Golden State extended its lead to 71-60.
After Denver scored five straight points, the Warriors answered with a 9-0 run to lead 80-65 midway through the third and took a 100-84 lead into the fourth.
