Apr 30, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets small forward Kenneth Faried (35) reaches to keep the ball in bounds in the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors in game five of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Nuggets will force a Game 6 in Oakland with a 107-100 win Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors.

George Karl decided to go big with his starting lineup against Mark Jackson’s small-ball team that gave Nuggets trouble in the first four games. Karl trotted out a starting five of Lawson-Iguodala-Chandler-Faried-McGee. McGee, who started his first game of the season Tuesday night, did not disappoint. He was active early and looked focused: blocking shots, rebounding and finishing around the rim.

Iguodala and Chandler played their best collective game of the series. Chandler finished with 19 points, nailing 5-of-11 from range. Iguodala carried the Nuggets in the third quarter and flirted with a triple double, finishing with 25 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. He was deflecting balls on the defensive end and looked very aggressive to find his offense: attacking the rim and splashing spot up jumpers.

The combination of Jack-Curry-Thompson-Barnes struggled shooting from the floor all game. The combination shot 27-of-69 from the field for just 39.1 percent. In part, that had to do with Denver’s defense. The Nuggets looked very conscience of their rotations. The Warriors did miss open shots — Faried lost Barnes in the half court set a few times — but overall Denver looked much better defensively than the past three games.

Denver was hitting on all cylinders in the first half. It was getting out in transition off of Golden State turnovers and scoring easy fast break buckets. The Warriors shot much worse than they had in the first half, reminding the audience that they are in fact human.

The Warriors cut the lead to 11 on a pair of Harrison Barnes free throws. On the next Denver possession, Lawson drove hard into the teeth of the defense, drawing a foul, nailing one-out-of-two and extending the lead back to 12. A Klay Thompson corner 3-pointer cut the lead to single digits, capitalizing a 11-1 run and bringing Golden State within nine.

Another one-for-two from the line for Lawson brought the lead back to 10. Less than a minute later, Curry found a cutting Ezeli in transition, who finished and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but the lead was cut to eight. A turnover on Denver’s next possession gave Golden State the opportunity to make it a two possession game with just over five minutes left. Curry made an in-and-out move and finished with his right hand at the bucket to bring Golden State within six.

Curry was called for reaching on the following possession, his fifth foul of the game. Iguodala nailed both free throws to give the Nuggets an eight point lead with just over five minutes left to play. Curry hit a step back 3-pointer off a screen, bringing the Denver lead to five. Miller took, and missed, a questionable shot, but Lawson stole the following outlet pass. Miller lobbed a backdoor alley-oop to Kenneth Faried on the next possession. Jarrett Jack hit a pull up two-pointer and all of the sudden the fast-paced back-and-forth series we saw the first four games was back.

Ezeli was called for a moving screen with 3:41 remaining and the Warriors down 98-93. Coming out of a Mark Jackson timeout, an Andre Miller mid-post jumper extended the lead back to seven. A Thompson turn around baseline hook shot brought the Warriors within five. A couple possessions later, Chandler nailed a corner 3.

A couple minutes later Iguodala jammed in an airball to give the Nuggets a 105-96 lead. On Denver’s next possession, Faried finished a backdoor alley-oop. Those two plays solidified Denver’s Game 5 victory and prolonged its playoff life.

The series will move back to Oakland where the Nuggets will again have to fight for their playoff lives in front of a rowdy Oracle Arena. The game will be broadcasted on TNT at 10:30 ET.

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Apr 26, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) reacts after making a three point basket against the Denver Nuggets in the third quarter during game three of the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Nuggets 110-108. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Nuggets lost their third straight game 115 to 101 to the Warriors en route to a 3-1 deficit in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs.

This is Stephen Curry’s world; we’re just living in it. There’s no stopping him. There’s. Just. No. Stopping. Him. When the 25-year-old phenom flicks his wrist, it’s a thing of beauty. It’s the type of basketball bliss that leaves audiences in awe. Every dribble is planned. It’s the type of efficient movement that coaches love and basketball bloggers rave over. His floater is unstoppable. When he rises in traffic, you just assume it’s going in, regardless if he’s 8-foot-and-in or 15-feet away.

This is Curry’s year. And the Nuggets just happen to be in the way. He finished Game 4 with 31 points on 6-of-11 from downtown.

Poor George Karl — he’ll take most of the blame. Poor Andre Miller — we’ll continue to poke fun, call him senile, and say the series would be different if he didn’t play. Poor JaVale McGee — his regular season humor has turned into postseason hate. Poor Ty Lawson — his fantastic offensive series will be completely overshadowed by the guy opposite him. Poor Denver Nuggets — they were just a small obstacle in the big part of Curry’s overall master plan.

It’s not over; but it might as well be. The Nuggets will have to win three straight game against the hottest team in the NBA, one of those games in Oakland, where the Golden State fans are loud and have a belief that their Warriors are going to win every game in their building.  If Andre Miller doesn’t have an outlier performance in Game 1, the Nuggets get swept. Think about that for a second.

Denver was dominated in the first half. The Warriors continued their hot streak early and Denver was unable to protect the ball, giving the ball away 14 times that led to 19 first half points for Golden State. Andrew Bogut, who was basically ignored by Denver defenders who were extended on the perimeter trapping ball-handlers, made the Nuggets pay shoot 6-of-9 from the field and dunking all over Denver’s entire defense multiple times.

Ty Lawson, whose 35 points, 10 rebound performance carried the Nuggets in Game 3

April 28, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson (3) dribbles against Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry (30) during the second quarter in game four of the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

struggled with just 6 points and 3 assists on 2-of-7 shooting from the field in the first half. Golden State was attacking Lawson at the point of its attack and he was unable to make a difference on the defensive end. He finished the first half with a minus 13 performance.

The third quarter wasn’t any better for the Nuggets. Other than Ty Lawson going God-Mode for approximately four minutes, the Nuggets were outscored and continued to struggle defensively. Coach Karl put Andre Miller on Curry, and it went as one would expect:  bad. Curry, the Nuggets worst defender, was getting absolutely destroyed by the league’s best 3-point shooter and the playoff’s hottest performer. Curry’s steal into a pull-up transition three was the stake through the heart of the Nuggets, who were left bloody and hopeless in a ditch.

The fourth quarter was more of the same. The Warriors continued to bury the Nuggets by creating turnovers and nailing 3-pointers. Richard Jefferson scored a bucket and Julyan Stone got minutes — so there’s that. Anthony Randolph and Old Man Dre both received technical fouls — it really was an implosion of the utmost sorts.

There will be a lot of question marks heading into Game 5 and at this point it’s tough to see any adjustment that George Karl could make actually changing the outcome of this series. The Warriors are hitting everything, spearheaded by the league’s best player at hitting everything. It’s looking more and more improbable that the Nuggets will dig themselves out of this hole.

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