Golden State advances to next round

OAKLAND, CALIF. (AP)
Stephen Curry had 22 points and eight assists,
Andrew Bogut broke out with the best
performance of his injury-saddled season and
the Golden State Warriors eliminated the
Denver Nuggets with a 92-88 victory in Game
6 on Thursday.
Bogut had season-bests and career-playoff
highs of 14 points and 21 rebounds, and
rookie Draymond Green added a career-high
16 points and 10 rebounds to power Golden
State into the second round for the first time
in six years.
The Warriors went ahead by 18 points early in
the fourth before holding off one final Nuggets
flurry.
Andre Iguodala scored 24 points and Ty
Lawson had 17 in another disappointed early
exit for Denver, which has lost in the first
round nine of the past 10 seasons.
The Nuggets won 23 of their final 26 regular
season games to earn the Western
Conference's third seed, then lost four of six
to the hot-shooting Warriors.
Golden State only outshot the Nuggets 40.3
percent to 34.7 percent in the finale but
dominated the rebounding matchup again,
55-44. The Warriors overcame 21 turnovers -
including 10 in the fourth - while the Nuggets
only had seven.
Golden State will open the second round at San
Antonio on Monday. The Spurs swept the
Lakers in four games.
Warriors coach Mark Jackson ratcheted up the
rhetoric after the Nuggets won a physical
Game 5, saying Denver sent ''hit men'' out to
take ''cheap shots'' at Curry.
The accusations earned Jackson a $25,000 fine
from the NBA for an ''attempt to influence the
officiating,'' though neither side ever got out
of control in the finale.
Except Curry's shooting - again
On the ball or off the dribble, Curry connected
all over his home court in another dazzling
second half. Curry swished all four of his 3-
pointers in the third quarter and brought the
announced sellout crowd of 19,596 roaring
each time.
He also dribbled behind his back and threw his
legs, crossing over Lawson and zipping a pass
through traffic to Bogut for a thunderous
dunk. With Denver starting to chase Curry
around the perimeter, the spacing started to
open up.
Curry added a one-handed pass off the dribble
to a cutting Carl Landry, who finished for a
three-point play over Wilson Chandler, flexed
his arms above his shoulder and belted out a
roar from the floor to give Golden State a
64-53 lead.
Green made a corner 3 in front of Denver's
bench, and Klay Thompson hustled for a
rebound and a quick put-back to put the
Warriors up 80-62 with 9:11 to play.
The Nuggets failed to score for nearly six
minutes during the stretch. But they rallied
with 13 straight, held the Warriors scoreless
for almost five minutes and gave the frenzied
fans in Oakland reason to worry.
After the Warriors went back ahead by nine,
they had 10 turnovers in the fourth and nearly
collapsed. Chandler stole the rebound from
Green for an easy layup to get within four,
Iguodala hit another from long range and
Kenneth Faried made 1 of 2 free throws to
bring Denver within two with 32.4 seconds to
play.
Iguodala stole Thompson's pass on the ensuing
play. Chandler's running layup rimmed out, he
missed a put-back and then knocked the ball
out - a call that stood after a video review.
The Nuggets were forced to intentionally foul
Jarrett Jack , who made both free throws to
give Golden State a 92-88 lead with 7.3
seconds remaining to seal the victory.
The final buzzer sounded and gold confetti
flew, with Green throwing his arms in the air -
and running right to Jackson for a warm
embrace.
Golden State seemed to have an answer for
everything Denver threw its way in this series.
Even All-Star forward David Lee made a
surprising return for the Warriors after not
dressing the previous four games with what
the team had called a season-ending hip
injury. He grabbed one rebound and missed
one jumper in 87 seconds off the bench in the
first quarter.
No matter who played or when, the end-to-end
action kept fans standing on their feet at
Oracle Arena - nicknamed ''ROAR-ACLE'' by
Warriors players in these playoffs - most of the
way.
Lawson zipped in and out of the way with
relative ease, twisting and turning for difficult
layups and fallaway jumpers to carry the
Nuggets to a 34-23 lead early in the second
quarter.
With the crowd at full throat and mixing in
chants of ''de-fense!'' and ''Warr-i-ors!,''
players often couldn't hear whistles or even
the buzzer.
Bogut's big first half - 10 points, eight
rebounds, four blocks and two assists - kept
the Warriors close, and they sliced Denver's
lead to 42-40 at the break behind a late surge
of shooting from their guards on the
perimeter.
Faried, the target of Jackson's accusations of
''dirty play'' in Game 5, picked up his fourth
foul with 10:23 to play in the third quarter.
Three of those fouls came in the first 1:37 of
the third before Nuggets coach George Karl
took him out.
Soon after, Curry took control to send the
Nuggets home for good.
NOTES: Aaron Hern, an 11-year-old from
nearby Martinez, who was injured in the
bombings during the Boston Marathon,
attended the game with his family and honored
on the videoboard during the first quarter. ...
The Warriors entered 9-1 in home playoff
games in which they had a chance to win the
series since moving to the Bay Area prior to
the 1962-63 season. ... Teams are 3-7 in
closeout games in this year's playoffs.