The Denver Nuggets wrapped up Tuesday's Game 5 with a victory over the Golden State Warriors, keeping their playoff hopes alive. The Memphis Grizzlies took Game 5 by the final score of 103-93 as they took a 3-2 lead in the series as they relied on their big men in this one. Here's how it went down for the Nuggets and the Grizzlies.
The Nuggets, it was a team effort as six guys finished in double figures. They took advantage of a normal shooting night from Stephen Curry. The Nuggets completely dominated this matchup from beginning to end. Andre Iguodala led the way with 25 points, while Ty Lawson and Wilson Chandler each added 19 points. Chandler finished with five threes as the block of his scoring came from beyond the arc.
As for the Warriors, they simply couldn't duplicate Game 2-4 performances where they had killer shooting nights, more specifically, Curry wasn't able to dominate the way he did when the Warriors needed him the most. He finished this game with only 15 points on a 7-19 shooting night going 1-7 from the three-point line.
The Nuggets were leading big and by big, they were up by as many as 22 points. The Warriors went on 11-1 run late in the game and eventually cut it to single digits. However, their game became extremely disorganized in the closing minutes of the game. The Nuggets only won by seven points, but it was more in the closing seconds of the game.
It was an even match down the stretch as neither team really outplayed the other on the stat sheet, but the Warriors did have four more turnovers than the Nuggets.
Over in Los Angeles, the Grizzlies used their height to defeat the Clippers. In all seriousness, it was only Chris Paul on offense for the Clippers in Game 5. He finished with 35 points and for a while was the only Clipper in double-digit scoring. There was no Lob City. There was no Blake Griffin who missed action in this one due to a high ankle sprain.
All night long, the Clippers couldn't match the strength of Marc Gasol or Zach Randolph. When they matched the strength, they couldn't match the speed and agility these big men possess. The two big men combined for 46 of the team's 103 points and grabbed 19 of their 42 rebounds.
The Grizzlies take the series back home where they will play for advancement into the second round. Same goes for the Warriors. They get a chance to clinch the series at home in front of their fans.
