Nuggets simply three-mendous

Denver deadly from beyond the arc en route to equaling NBA record

The sellout crowd at the Pepsi Center came to see the sharpshooters, and they did.

But it wasn't the Golden State Warriors hitting from long range - it was the shorthanded Denver Nuggets.

"Once we saw a few go in, we just wanted to keep going, see how many we could hit," Will Barton said after the Nuggets tied an NBA record with 24 3-pointers while shocking the Warriors 132-110 on Monday night.

The Nuggets beat the Warriors at their own game, but it wasn't by design.

"We just wanted to get after them, challenge them on offense and defense. It just so happened that we hit a lot of threes. So, we just kept rolling with it," Barton said.

"But we never come in against a team like that and just want to outshoot them from beyond the arc, because that's what they do."

The Warriors couldn't counter Denver's dizzying display, sinking just eight of 32 3-pointers.

Even Stephen Curry couldn't keep up with Denver's sharpshooters, finishing one of 11 from beyond the arc.

"I felt confident, every shot I took felt like it was going in," Curry said. "Just got served a humble slice of cupcake."

The only Denver player who didn't join the long-range barrage was Nikola Jokic, who was too busy setting career highs with 12 assists and 21 rebounds to go with 17 points in his second career triple-double.

The Nuggets tied the three-point mark set by the Houston Rockets in December against New Orleans when rookie Juan Hernangomez sank his sixth three with two minutes remaining.

"Yeah, we knew it at the end," Gary Harris said. "We were trying to get one more."

But their last two 3-pointers in the final minute rattled out, and Jamal Murray passed up an uncontested 3 to dribble out the clock. Denver finished 24 of 40 from beyond the arc.

"Every time somebody shot, it just felt like the ball was going in," Harris said. "It's crazy."

Hernangomez scored a season-high 27 points to go with a season-best 10 boards, Barton added 24 points and Jameer Nelson 23.

Kevin Durant led Golden State with 25 points two days after his emotional return to Oklahoma City. He kept waiting for the Nuggets to cool off, but they never did.

"I thought they would. They were playing confident and free," Durant said. "They had nothing to lose."

The Warriors' ninth loss of the season matched their total from last year when they won an NBA-record 73 games. This was their biggest loss since a 129-100 blowout against the Spurs in the season opener.

"It was one of those nights they had everything going, they were on fire and we couldn't get much going ourselves," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

Cue the backups

The Warriors trailed by as many as 28 points and were down 107-85 after three quarters. Kerr sat Durant, Curry and Draymond Green in the fourth quarter, and the backups cut it to 109-100 before the Nuggets pulled away again.

"We had a really good mentality coming in but kind of laid an egg," Curry said. "Our young guys did a great job of providing some life."