CALIFORNIA – Golden State Warriors used a huge fourth quarter surge to dispatch Denver Nuggets, 102-98, in Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference first round series on Wednesday night (Thursday in the Philippines) at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
Down 78-70 after three quarters, the Warriors started strong in the fourth period behind Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry to surge ahead 86-84 on a three-pointer by Gary Payton Jr.
Both squads were still tied at 90-all before Curry and Payton anchored a huge 11-4 finishing run to put the Warriors ahead at 101-94 with under a minute left.
Curry finished the game with 30 points, including five triples, to go with five rebounds and five assists as the Warriors wrapped up the series at 4-1 to advance to Western Conference semifinals.
Payton and Thompson each ended up with 15 markers, while Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green ended up with 12 and 11 markers, respectively, for Golden State.
Nikola Jokić had 30 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists, while Demarcus Cousins and Aaron Gordon contributed 19 and 15 points, respectively, for the Nuggets.
Milwaukee Bucks also moved on to the Eastern Conference semifinals after finishing off the shorthanded Chicago Bulls, 116-100, in Game 5 of their first round series.
The defending NBA champions Bucks took advantage of the undermanned Bulls as they surged to a 34-18 edge before widening it to 49-20 in the second quarter.
Chicago outscored the Bucks 22-11 the rest of the second quarter and got the margin down to 11 on Ayo Dosunmu’s 3-point play with 9:32 left in the third quarter, but that’s as close as the Bulls would get.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished the game with 33 points and nine rebounds, while Pat Connaughton added 20 markers for the Bucks, which will face Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semis.
BOX SCORE:
GOLDEN STATE 102 — Curry 30, Thompson 15, Payton 15, Wiggins 12, Green 11, Poole 8, Looney 4, Kuminga 4, Porter 3.
DENVER 98 — Jokić 30, Cousins 19, Gordon 15, Barton 14, Morris 14, Hyland 4, Je. Green 2, Rivers 0, Ja. Green 0, Forbes 0, Campazzo 0.
Quarterscores: 30-25, 48-48, 70-78, 102-98./PN
