10/24/25 01:05:00
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10/24 01:04 CDT Stephen Curry's heroics overshadow Aaron Gordon's 50-point
night in Warriors' OT win
Stephen Curry's heroics overshadow Aaron Gordon's 50-point night in Warriors'
OT win
By JOSH DUBOW
AP Sports Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --- On a career night for Aaron Gordon, Stephen Curry did
what he does so often and stole the show.
Curry hit a tying 3-pointer late in regulation and scored 16 straight points
for Golden State down the stretch to help the Warriors overcome Gordon's
50-point night and beat the Denver Nuggets 137-131 on Thursday night.
"It's kind of like a playoff type vibe where somebody has an out-of-body
experience and you dig deep to steal one pretty much," said Curry, who finished
with 42 points.
Gordon had the seventh 50-point season opener in NBA history and tied a record
for the first game of a season by making 10 3-pointers --- three more than he
had ever made in a game.
But it wasn't enough thanks to the way Curry played down the stretch.
"It sucks," Gordon said. "They were asking if I wanted the game ball. No. I
don't want to take the L with me. It sucks. But it's one game. It's our first
game."
The Warriors were down seven late when Curry got to the line and made two free
throws with 2:42 to play. He then was fouled on a 3-pointer the next trip down
and made all three after encouraging the crowd to get loud before he went to
the line.
Curry then tied it with 1:24 to play with only to watch Gordon answer with a 3
of his own to put Denver 120-117 with 25.7 seconds to play.
"Ridiculous," Curry said of Gordon's 10-for-11 shooting night from long range.
"Whatever he did this summer worked."
Curry took little time to respond, using a pick and roll to get a crack of
space and using that to make the game-tying 3 with 21.4 seconds to play.
"On that one I was able to kind of do a little snake and I saw just a little
bit of daylight," Curry said. "Decisive. No second guessing what you're doing."
The shot left the Nuggets marveling.
"He hit a super tough shot to send it to OT," Gordon said. "That's Steph being
Steph."
The game went to overtime when Nikola Jokic missed a shot in the lane just
before the buzzer. Curry led the way with seven points in the extra session and
got help from 3-pointers from Al Horford and Jimmy Butler to get the win that
improved Golden State to 2-0 on the season.
Curry even did his signature "night night" move after Butler's 3 put the
Warriors up six in the final minute of overtime.
The Nuggets now head home wondering how they squandered such an impressive
night from Gordon, who broke Alex English's franchise record of 47 points in a
season opener and tied Terry Rozier's NBA record with 10 3-pointers in an
opener.
"I feel awful for Aaron," coach David Adelman said. "Aaron had a night I'll
never forget. I know he won't. So tough loss. We had so many chances to win the
game, to control the game. Give them credit. They just keep coming."
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
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