Hot 3-point-shooting Nuggets sprint by Warriors

The Nuggets opened the preseason in style, notching a 108-102 win over the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, behind a big game from newcomer Paul Millsap and hot shooting from the 3-point line.

Millsap scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 25 minutes of action. The Nuggets’ prized free-agent signee hit shots from all over the court, showing effectiveness on the block and all the way out to the 3-point line. Millsap nailed 4-of-6 shots from beyond the arc, the bulk of which came in a third quarter that the Nuggets closed on a 16-2 run to take a lead they never relinquished.

The Nuggets hit 13-of-28 shots from the 3-point line overall, making 46 percent from the arc. Emmanuel Mudiay transferred his solid play in training camp at CU Boulder to the game, finishing with 19 points and six assists in 28 minutes off the bench. He made 6-of-10 shots overall, including 3-of-4 from the 3-point line.

Other Nuggets in double figures included Mason Plumlee, who had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds; Nikola Joki?, who had 12 points and six rebounds; and Will Barton, who had 10 points and five rebounds.

Stephen Curry led Golden State with 11 points, but on 3-of-12 shooting.

Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson all scored in double figures, but Golden State proved unable to overcome their struggles from 3-point range, where they made just four of their 33 attempts as a team. Nick Young and Jordan Bell added six and four points, respectively, in their first game in a Warriors uniform.

The Nuggets return to action on Monday with the first of two consecutive games at the LA Lakers.

By Christopher Dempsey for nuggets.com

First appeared on NBA.com Global

New Timberwolves impressive as they down young Lakers

The preseason showdown between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers in California was an exciting game as both teams started building towards the 2017/18 season. The T-Wolves welcomed a raft of new players into the team and they contributed to the 108-99 victory.

Jimmy Butler is one of the new star players on the roster and he got his Timberwolves career off to a winning start, scoring 10 points in the game. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 15 points and Andrew Wiggins only managed nine points in the contest. In fact, it was Shabazz Muhammad who top scored for the visiting team with 22 points as he made seven of his 12 field-goal attempts. Newly acquired veteran Taj Gibson added 18 points to the team total with nine rebounds. Jeff Teague finished with 11 points and nine assists, the most dishes in the game. Senegal’s Gorgui Dieng was great off the bench as he recorded a double-double, scoring 14 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.

As expected, most of the pregame attention was on Lonzo Ball with the Lakers rookie in the eye of the media storm. Ball had a solid outing as he only scored five points, but his eight assists and seven rebounds showed his diverse skills. It was another Lakers rookie who stole the spotlight as Kyle Kuzma racked up the points, top scoring for LA with 19. Julius Randle scored 15 points and claimed seven rebounds, Jordan Clarkson weighed in with 14 points and Brandon Ingram finished with 10 points and six rebounds. A number of the more experienced Lakers sat out the clash with Luol Deng, Andrew Bogut and Brook Lopez missing the action.

By Cyrus Rogers