Nuggets survive Warriors charge, Curry’s late surge

DENVER – Danilo Gallinari scored 28 points and the Denver Nuggets withstood a 38-point performance by Stephen Curry to hand the Golden State Warriors their third loss of the season, 112-110, in the NBA on Wednesday night.

The defending NBA champion Warriors (36-3) had won seven straight since their previous defeat, 114-91, at Dallas on Dec. 30.

Harrison Barnes added 18 points and Klay Thompson had 17 for the Warriors.

Will Barton scored 21 for the Nuggets, who snapped a four-game losing streak to the Warriors. Gary Harris added 18 points.

A dunk by Brandon Rush gave the Warriors a 68-64 lead, but Denver outscored Golden State 19-5 over the last 5 1/2 minutes of the third quarter to take a 10-point lead into the fourth.

Layups by Curry and Andrew Bogut cut the deficit to 102-97 with 2:05 remaining. Curry, who scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, and Barton then traded 3-pointers before Darrell Arthur hit a jumper with a minute left for a 109-102 Denver lead.

But the Warriors fought back, getting a layup from Barnes and a 3 from Curry sandwiched around a Nuggets turnover, pulling to 109-107 with 37.1 seconds left.

With the Warriors in position to tie or go in front, Gallinari stole the ball from Curry, prompting a fast break that ended in Gary Harris being fouled and making a pair of free throws.

Thompson hit a 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds remaining to pull the Warriors to 111-110. They fouled Gallinari intentionally and he made one of two free throws, but Thompson missed a long jumper at the buzzer.

The Warriors, who trailed by as many as 10 earlier, pulled to 55-54 at halftime on Barnes’ jumper in the final seconds of the second quarter.

Gallinari had 15 points in the first half, including a reverse layup that preceded Barnes’ final shot in the second quarter to keep the Nuggets on top at the break.

In Oklahoma, the Thunder watched a 29-point fourth-quarter lead over the undermanned Dallas Mavericks whittle down to 14 before finally pulling away for a 108-89 victory at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

“It was a difficult game for everybody,” Thunder center Enes Kanter said. “They rested their guys, but like I always say, we can’t worry about what they’re doing. We can only focus on what we do on the court and play basketball.”

In other results, Houston held off Milwaukee, 107-104; Portland thumped Utah, 99-85; and New Orleans crushed Sacramento, 109-97.

Back in Oklahoma, Kevin Durant scored 29 points to lead Oklahoma City. He shot nine of 14 from the field to go with 10 rebounds and four assists, while Serge Ibaka added 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Thunder improved to 28-12.

Playing without all five starters, the Mavericks were paced by J.J. Barea, who had 18 points and six assists. Raymond Felton added 14 points on three of 11 shooting as the Mavs fell to 22-18.

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle liked the way his team competed under difficult circumstances and singled out Barea for praise.

“(Barea) is a walking breathing, stubborn, competitor. That’s why he’s been a really terrific 10-year player,” added Carlisle. “He’s not going to back down. The bigger the moment, the bigger the challenge, the more he is going to rise to it. I think we have a team of competitors.”

It took a couple of minutes for Oklahoma City to get themselves interested when the game started. Without Dallas having their normal cast of rivals on the court for Durant, Ibaka and Russell Westbrook to focus on, they came out with a lackluster look.

But the mismatches quickly started to become apparent. Felton was forced to defend Durant, who scored 11 points in the opening quarter.

The Mavericks had no players to turn to in order to change the tide. Barea tried to provide the needed offense and keep the contest close.

However, midway through the second quarter, Barea got tangled up with Westbrook and started a shoving match between the two teams and several technical fouls were issued.

“It was a regular foul, then (Westbrook) threw his arm, and then it went a little crazy after that,” Barea said. “I was there. I wasn’t backing down. He started pushing, I started grabbing, he grabbed me.”

The altercation just seemed to motivate Durant, who then hit a pair of three-pointers and threw down a dunk on rookie forward Justin Anderson.

The Barea-Westbrook feud flared up again late in the first half and Westbrook was hit with his second technical foul and ejected from game. However, the Thunder still led 65-42 at halftime.

“That’s how Barea is. He’s a chippy player,” Durant said. “I mean, he has to be that way. He’s the smallest guy in the league, one of the toughest guys in the league as well. So we knew he was going to try and add a little something to the game, but we did a good job keeping our heads.”

With Devin Harris injuring his foot and Charlie Villanueva ejected with two technicals, Dallas were down to eight players in the second half. Even without Westbrook to keep Oklahoma City’s offense humming, they were still too much for the shorthanded Mavs.

“We got it down by 29 and got it back to 12 or 14 and they had to bring their starters back in,” Carlisle said. “You have got to just keep playing and they did and I am proud of the way that our guys competed.”