Curry: Dubs 'level up,' playing like title contenders

SAN FRANCISCO -- Stephen Curry split two Denver defenders, knocked down a 20-foot pull-up shot while being fouled and let out a scream while stomping his feet.

Curry and the Warriors continued to make noise Friday night, winning their fifth straight game with a 118-104 victory over the Denver Nuggets at Chase Center.

"[There's a] sense of urgency down the stretch," Curry said. "The feeling of where you are in the standings, every game mattering. And the idea that the chess match of 'how do we win this particular game?' becomes a little bit more important.

He added: "We thrive off of that. That's why we've been so successful for this many years. Because as the stakes rise, the lights get brighter, we tend to level up."

Curry has raised his level. He made seven 3-pointers and scored 36 points to beat the Nuggets. In the past three games, Curry has scored a total of 125 points, second only to LeBron James for most points in a three-game span by a player age 37 or older, according to research by ESPN Research.

"In three different cities at 37," Warriors coach Steve Kerr added. "He looked so fast out there tonight, and I think maybe it's the most underrated part of his game, is his conditioning. Just incredible what he does out there, especially considering how much attention he draws defensively, how much pressure people put on him, and he handles it night after night and flourishes."

Since Golden State acquired Jimmy Butler before the trade deadline, the Warriors have been a completely different team, going 21-5 since Butler made his debut in Chicago on Feb. 8.

Draymond Green proclaimed during All-Star weekend that the Warriors will win the championship with Butler. This week, they made a statement. The Warriors won three straight games that have felt like playoff games, beating teams that were or are currently above them in the Western Conference standings.

Golden State (46-31) won a critical game in Memphis on Tuesday to gain the tiebreaker over the Grizzlies. They beat the Lakers in Los Angeles on Thursday and then returned home after spending 14 days on the road and took care of Denver in the second game of a back-to-back. Friday's win snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Nuggets (47-31).

Curry, whose three-point play pushed the Warriors up by 15 with 2:30 remaining, was asked if the Warriors are playing like a team at a championship level.

"We're playing like that," Curry said. "We have a lot of work. I've been saying that since this run started. We still have a lot of work to do to finish the year strong. You are seeing an identity on a night-to-night that we understand how to win games. Whether it's games where tempo is a lot faster, you got to score or if it's a grind-out defensive game. We've played better in fourth quarters with leads. All the things that championship-caliber teams do, we've been doing and it's clearly different than two months ago.

"For us to just be able to get into a playoffs series, we understand what we're capable of, and whether you're predicting it or speaking it into existence or whatever it is, the confidence is there. So just ride that wave."

The Warriors are riding the momentum they have had since the Butler trade. Curry and Green are rejuvenated and role players such as Brandin Podziemski, who had 26 points against the Nuggets one night after scoring 28 against the Lakers, are thriving alongside Butler.

On Sunday, the Warriors face the Houston Rockets, who are currently second in the West. Golden State's goal is to stay in the top six and out of the play-in tournament.

"We've got momentum right now," Kerr said. "The Memphis one was probably the big one to kick off this three-game stretch. And so to string these wins together against three teams all ahead of us in the standings at the time, massive.

"We've got five games left, we know we've got to win four of them to guarantee a top-six spot, so we just got to keep going."