Warriors hold off Nuggets to reach NBA 2nd round

OAKLAND, California (AFP) –

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (R) drives past Denver Nuggets’ Andre Iguodala on May 2, 2013. The Warriors squandered an 18-point fourth-quarter lead but held on to beat Denver 92-88 to reach the second round of the NBA playoffs.

The Golden State Warriors squandered an 18-point fourth-quarter lead but held on to beat the Denver Nuggets 92-88 to reach the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Stephen Curry scored 14 of his 22 points in a crucial third-quarter surge Thursday and Golden State survived some sloppy play in the fourth quarter to win the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series four-games-to-two.

Australian NBA veteran Andrew Bogut, who battled ankle pain through much of the season, contributed 14 points and 21 rebounds for the sixth-seeded Warriors, who next face the West’s second-seeded San Antonio Spurs.

The veteran Spurs ousted the injury-depleted Los Angeles Lakers in four games.

“It was a big win for us. Hopefully we can keep rolling,” said Bogut after the Warriors — in the playoffs for the first time since 2007 — nearly let the contest slip away.

Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Bogut (L) tries to block a shot by Denver Nuggets’ Kenneth Faried on May 2, 2013. Bogut, who battled ankle pain through much of the season, contributed 14 points and 21 rebounds for the sixth-seeded Warriors.

Draymond Green contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds for Golden State, including six key points after the Nuggets made things interesting with a 13-0 scoring run in the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets, who won 57 games in the regular season to earn the third seed in the Western Conference, lost all three games of the series in Oakland to bow out in the first round.

Andre Iguodala led the Nuggets with 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Ty Lawson added 17 points. Wilson Chandler scored 11 points but connected on just 5-of-17 from the floor and missed a potential game-tying shot in the final minute.

Golden State’s All-Star forward David Lee, expected to miss all of the playoffs after tearing his right hip flexor in the opening game of the series, made a brief appearance in the first quarter.

He energized the crowd and his teammates, but it wasn’t clear if he would play against the Spurs.

The victory took the sting out of the $25,000 fine levied by the NBA against Warriors head coach Mark Jackson earlier Thursday, for comments that the league deemed “an attempt to influence the officiating” of the series.

After the Warriors fell to Denver in game five on Tuesday — missing out on a chance to close out the series — Jackson accused the Nuggets of deliberately trying to injure Curry.