The Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets 118-113 in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday to extend their lead to 3-0 in the series and are one win away from advancing the West semifinals.

Stephen Curry continued to play off the bench for the Warriors. He scored 27 points and six assists after making three triples and six free throws. Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson combined nine triples and 53 points in the starting lineup. Judging by Poole's offensive performance in the past three months, he is already a qualified new member of the "Splash Brothers" with Curry and Thompson.

The Nuggets apparently learnt from their 20-point loss in Game 2 on Monday. Coach Michael Malone gave his guards, like Monty Morris, Austin Rivers and Bryn Forbes longer time to press Curry harder from outside. Such defensive arrangements worked as Curry committed four turnovers and six field goals (FGs) from downtown.

However, leaving too many undersized defenders on the floor for too long resulted in the inability to deflect the shooting of 1.98-meter-tall Thompson. Moreover, as the Nuggets' two centers, Nikola Jokic and DeMarcus Cousins, intended to jump out to either slow down or trap the ball-handler, the Nuggets often had to rely on guards to protect the rim. They could barely cause enough trouble for the Warriors' slashers driving in from the weak side.

Since the Nuggets don't have enough defensive resources to contain the opponents, their only hope is to outscore the Warriors. Considering the Nuggets have been only average in 3-point shooting during the regular season, their best chance of winning is to create and make as many open shots in the middle range and under the rim exploiting Jokic as a defensive distraction.

The Warriors made sure that didn't happen. The allowed Jokic to shoot 14-of-22 from the field to score 37 points, but the reigning NBA MVP only delivered five assists at the cost of five turnovers. Kevon Looney was called five personal fouls in less than 10 minutes in the first and third quarters, but Draymond Green, Otto Porter Jr., Andre Iguodala, Andrew Wiggins and Nemanja Bjelica managed to stop Jokic from igniting the rest of the Nuggets offensively.

No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs in league history. The Nuggets don't look like an exception with the squad they have today.

Game 4 of this series will happen at Ball Arena again on Sunday.

Grizzlies overcome 26-point deficit to beat Timberwolves on the road

The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-95 in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs at Target Center in Minneapolis on Thursday, leading 2-1 in the series.

The Grizzlies trailed by as much as 26 and 25 points in the second and third quarters respectively on Thursday night, but they managed to catch up in both times. Desmond Bane drained a franchise record of seven 3-pointers for the team; Ja Morant was struggling with his touch in most of the time, but he had a triple-double of 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

The Grizzlies' bench unit made key contributions as well by outscoring their Timberwolves' counterpart 41-22. Brandon Clarke alone had 12 points in the final quarter during which the Grizzlies had a 37-12 run. In fact, if you count the last minute of the third quarter into the team's rally, the Grizzlies had an 21-0 run in less than six minutes.

In a game in which neither side reached 105 points or a 45-percent FG rate, victory went to the more hard-working and resilient team. The Grizzlies led in in rebounds 48-41, both offensive (13-9) and defensive (35-32) ones. That gave them five more second-chance points (23-18). Meanwhile, the Grizzlies also made three more free throws (20-17). Despite the exciting 37-12 run in the final quarter, the team pieced together their victory with various little details in which they did better than their opponents.

By contrast, the Timberwolves showed such a dramatic relapse that made them look nothing like a playoff team. They scored 39 and 32 points in the first and third quarters respectively, but were limited to 12 points twice in the second fourth quarters. Their All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns had six points, four rebounds and three blocks in less than seven minutes in the first quarter. However, he didn't score again until 3:36 in the fourth quarter.

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch must be held responsible for Thursday's loss as well. During the opponents' crazy 21-0 run, he didn't even call a timeout to calm his players down or send in their starting point guard D'Angelo Russell to manage the pace.

Game 4 will happen at Target Center again on Saturday.

Mavericks are welcoming Doncic back with 2-1 lead

The Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz 126-118 in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Thursday to lead 2-1 in the series.

The Mavericks missed their super star playmaker Luka Doncic in the first three games of the playoffs but he is hoping to return in Game 4 at the same arena on Saturday.

The Mavericks carried their remarkable shooting touch behind the arc to Thursday's game in which they shot 18-of-42 in triples. Maxi Kleber and Davis Bertans combined eight 3-pointers, forcing the Jazz to keep a small-ball squad without Rudy Gobert or Hassan Whiteside on the court longer than they wanted to.

That defensive change of the Jazz set Jalen Brunson free. Though he missed all four 3-pointers of his, Brunson shot 12-for-18 inside the key. He kept targeting at Donovan Mitchell in the middle range from the second half and scored 16 points in the third and fourth quarters.

Though the Jazz returned home, the hoop still looked unfamiliar to them, especially when they fired from outside. The team shot 9-of-28 from downtown on Thursday night. The game might have been long gone if it weren't for the explosion of Mitchell in the third quarter and the aggressiveness of the whole team on the offensive front.

Nonetheless, when the Jazz had to choose between Gobert and defending 3-point shooting, they were already in the unfavorable situation, not to mention that their best scorer became a defensive weakness as well. The team need to make a change, but they don't have any space to do so.