Warriors outlast Nikola Jokić and Nuggets, take 3-0 series lead

Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole scored 27 points each, Klay Thompson made six 3-pointers on his way to 26 points, and the Golden State Warriors muscled past the Denver Nuggets 118-113 on Thursday night to take a 3-0 lead in the playoff series.

Draymond Green added a key steal from Nikola Jokić  — who finished with 37 points and 18 rebounds — in the final minute and the Warriors closed on a 9-2 run to put the Nuggets on the cusp of elimination.

Golden State can wrap up the series Sunday in Denver. Teams facing a 3-0 deficit in an NBA playoff series are 0-143.

The Nuggets were in control for much of the second half, but after Jokić's finger roll layup put Denver ahead 111-109 with 3:20 left, the Warriors tightened up on defense.

The Nuggets went six straight possessions without scoring and Golden State had the game in hand by the time Will Barton's tip-in with 23 seconds left pulled Denver to 117-113.

Aaron Gordon added 18 points for the Nuggets, who took an 89-87 lead into the fourth quarter but lost for the seventh straight time in the postseason.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone complained before the game that his team hadn't been aggressive, physical or vocal in the series, so he inserted Facundo Campazzo into his rotation after losing the first two games by an average of 18 points.

"When you're a little bit undermanned like we are, we have to be ultra physical, ultra aggressive and take the fight to them," Malone said.

Campazzo wasn't the answer, but the Nuggets came out of halftime with renewed energy and used a 30-18 third quarter to take an two-point lead into the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets missed their last four shots of the first half and Curry had a 3-pointer and a three-point play to push Golden State's lead to 69-59 at the break.

Without max players Jamal Murray (ACL) and Michael Porter Jr. (back), the Nuggets knew they had to slow the pace because they cannot keep up with the healthy Warriors.

"We're in a Pinto, and they're in a Maserati," Malone quipped.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr chuckled at the analogy, noting he's never owned either model.

"I'm somewhere in between," he said.

There's no denying his team is turbo-charged, however, after missing the playoffs the last two seasons.

"I think in some ways, we are reinvigorated after the last couple of years," Kerr said. "We had a long run that started before I got here. Seven straight years in the playoffs and five trips to the Finals and there was a lot of fatigue at that point, emotional, physical fatigue. It was very easy to tell and to feel that so, last couple of years we haven't been in the playoffs.

"The sense that I get from ... the guys who have been here a long time, it's they are happy as hell to be back. So they're playing with a lot of a lot of energy, a lot of excitement."

Reporting by Associated Press.