Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry battled through the Denver Nuggets rough play, and power forward David Lee overcame a torn hip flexor that was supposed to sideline him for the rest of the postseason and played in the Warriors' 92-88 Game 6 triumph.
Lee suffered a severe hip injury in Game 1 of the series, and was expected to be out until training camp next season, but he mustered up all the strength he had and managed to grab a rebound in about a minute and a half of play.
Following a Game 5 loss, Warriors coach Mark Jackson earned himself a $25,000 fine for "attempting to influence the officials" stemming from comments he made about the Nuggets sending "hit men" after Curry to further damage his ankle. He also accused Kenneth Faried of "dirty play."
Curry stood tall in the face of the physical play, leading the Warriors in scoring with 22 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including 50 percent from behind the 3-point line on eight attempts.
The Warriors led by as many as 18 points in the second half, but the Nuggets did not go down quietly, storming back and cutting the deficit to one point. The Curry-led Warriors used sweet shooting to hold off the rally, however. "To finally get it done, it's kind of a hazy feeling," Curry said. "Just a sense of relief the way the game finished."
Nuggets head coach George Karl said he was proud of his team and the season they had in his postgame press conference. "We didn't lose this series tonight. This is a proud loss. We lost this series in Game 1 and 2. We didn't play well enough to sustain the confidence. We won Game 1 on a last-second layup. In Game 2, we gave away everything we worked for with 57 wins in the season. And that's on me."
This is the ninth time in the last 10 postseason trips that the Nuggets have been bounced in the first round.
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