Warriors sit above Nuggets

By Matt Steinmetz
TIMES STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- The Warriors got a glimpse of the NBA underworld on Tuesday night.

The NBA world under them, that is.

Yes, there are teams in worse shape than the Warriors these days. One of those teams is the Denver Nuggets, who pitifully unraveled in the fourth quarter before 10,574 at the New Arena and fell 87-75 to the Warriors.

The Nuggets (2-23) went scoreless for more than seven minutes in the fourth quarter, and while that was going on, the Warriors finally made something out of their possessions. That miserable stretch by the Nuggets transformed what had been a 70-62 advantage into a 77-70 deficit. In all, it was a seven-point fourth quarter for the Nuggets, who went 2-for-15 in the period and committed six turnovers.

The seven points were a franchise low for points in a quarter by the Nuggets and equaled a franchise low for points in a quarter by a Warriors opponent.

"That helps that the team was them," said Joe Smith, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds. "Maybe if it was a team with more experience or older it would have been tougher to come back."

The big turnaround was fueled by the league's smallest player, Muggsy Bogues, who proved again that the team runs better with him steering. The 5-foot-3 Bogues sparked a 15-0 run, hitting two jumpers and handing out three assists over that span. Bogues not only guided the offense, he was the instigator on defense, relentlessly heckling either Anthony Goldwire or Bobby Jackson.

"That's my game," Bogues said. "Bimbo (Coles) played great, did it all. He set the tone. But I'm glad coach (P.J. Carlesimo) gave me an opportunity. He saw I had my game going and he let me out there."

Although he tends to throw the game into widespread panic, strangely enough Bogues somehow has a calming influence on teammates. Bogues replaced Coles, who played well (13 points) but was called for a double foul when he and Jackson got into a little bumping match and a flagrant foul for crunching Goldwire on a fast break, both in the third quarter.

"I thought Bimbo had an exceptional game," Carlesimo said. "As well as he played for three quarters, I took him out in the fourth to rest him. But Muggsy played so well that he couldn't get back in."

The Warriors (6-19), who had 12 turnovers in the first half, handled the ball better in the second half, but that meant that possessions began ending in shot attempts, which hasn't been a strong suit this season. It wasn't in the second half, either.

The Warriors missed 17 of their first 24 field-goal attempts in the second half, the main reason they found themselves on the short end of a 70-62 score.

There's a reason the Warriors and the Nuggets came into Tuesday's game with a combined 7-41 record and the best indication came early in the second half when both teams struggled to do anything right.

Dropped passes, fumbles, turnovers, misplays and bad decisions characterized a six-minute stretch of the third period. The Warriors went a little longer playing like that and by the 2:07 mark of the third period, Denver was up 64-58. But it would all disintegrate in a morose fourth quarter.

"We tried everything," Denver coach Bill Hanzlik said. "We tried switching, screaming, yelling, different plays. It just didn't work. We weren't mentally tough and we paid for it."

After watching Donyell Marshall for 2½ seasons before this one, it's almost impossible to imagine the sentiment from the fans over the past four days. But it went something like this: "We need Marshall back."

The Warriors played the past two games without Marshall, who sprained his back and strained his left hamstring with 7:31 remaining in the first quarter of the Warriors-Clippers game on Thursday in Anaheim. Marshall didn't return in that game, which the Warriors lost, and didn't play in Seattle on Saturday or Phoenix on Monday, two more losses.

Showing why he is the team's most consistent player this season, Marshall scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds against the Nuggets.

"I was running at about 65 to 70 percent tonight," Marshall said. "At times I could feel it (hamstring), especially in the fourth quarter. I took a chance with it."

Edition: SRVT,  Section: B,  Page: 1