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DENVER - Jordan Crawford scored a career-high 41 points and Harrison Barnes added 30 as a squad of Golden State backups beat the Denver Nuggets 116-112 Wednesday night. Crawford beat his previous career high of 39 points set against Miami on March, 30, 2011, when he was with Washington. He surpassed it with a runner that put the Warriors ahead for good at 110-108. Randy Foye, who led Denver with 32 points, raced downcourt in response but his finger-roll rimmed out and Golden State corralled the rebound. With 30 seconds left, Barnes sank a free throw and Draymond Green swooped in to tip in his errant second shot, giving the Warriors a 113-108 lead. Crawford and Steve Blake each missed a free throw over the next 14 seconds, giving the Nuggets an opening. Green was whistled for goal-tending on Foyes 3-pointer with seven seconds left but the call was overturned upon review, leaving the Nuggets trailing 115-112. Anthony Randolph tied his season high with 19 points for the Nuggets, who are missing the playoff party for the first time since 2002-03, the year before Carmelo Anthonys arrival. The Warriors are headed to their second straight Western Conference playoffs, again as the No. 6 seed and this time, theyll face the third-seeded Clippers starting Saturday in Los Angeles. With Andrew Bogut out indefinitely and nothing to play for as far as seeding, the Warriors rested their regulars for the playoffs. Guard Klay Thompson was the only starter coach Mark Jackson put in his starting lineup 48 hours after Golden State secured its first 50-win season since 1993-94. Thompson played just eight minutes but his was an efficient cameo with eight points. Green was pressed into duty in the fourth quarter when Hilton Armstrong fouled out. Nuggets coach Brian Shaw had no problem with his counterpart going with a short bench by design, something Denver has had to do out of necessity for much of the season because of a rash of injuries to the likes of Ty Lawson, JaVale McGee, Danilo Gallinari, J.J. Hickson and Nate Robinson. "It will be like playing ourselves," Shaw said before tip-off. "Well get to see what its like." The Warriors reserves had fresh legs and continually beat the winded Nuggets downcourt. By halftime, Golden State, despite shooting just 9 of 17 from the foul line, was ahead 66-52 behind 22 points from Barnes and 19 from Crawford. The Nuggets opened the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run to take the lead and give the home crowd something to cheer about. This marked the final game for Nuggets trainer Jim Gillen, who never missed a game or a practice in 23 seasons with the Nuggets. He worked for nine head coaches and four interim coaches, five general managers and nearly 200 players, taping up, by his estimate, 15,000 ankles. Shaw called Gillen the fabric of the franchise. "As a first-year head coach, Ive had to rely on him in so many different situations from his experience and knowledge and know-how from things that we need to get together on, from hotel stays to when we need to get together and practice and how much rest guys need and to even in-game strategy, timeouts at the end of the game and things like that," Shaw said. NOTES: As expected, Lawson (sprained ankle) did not play in the season finale, meaning he missed the last seven games of the season. ... The visiting team won all four games in the season series. ___ Follow AP Sports Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton Bobby Clarke Jersey . Its like being on Broadway, everything you do matters. Id want to be good though! I couldnt play here if I wasnt very good. #83217388 / gettyimages. Ron Hextall Jersey . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins (3) - Surrendered a tough first goal against on a deflection through the body short side. http://www.hockeyflyersauthentic.com/way...nds-jersey/.com) - SirDominic Pointer posted career highs of 24 points and seven steals to lead No. Bernie Parent Jersey .Y. - Everyone expected Clayton Kershaw to pitch a shutout, and he did — a unanimous choice for the NL Cy Young Award. Nolan Patrick Jersey . -- Crystal Webster avoided elimination at the 2013 Capital One Road to the Roar Olympic pre-trial curling tournament with an 8-5 win over Amber Holland on Thursday. MONTREAL -- Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg still have the fastest car on the track, but the competition may not be quite so far behind at the Canadian Grand Prix. Practice day on Friday saw Fernando Alonso bring his Ferrari around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with the fastest time in the morning practice, only to see the Hamilton and Rosberg dominate the afternoon session in their Mercedes AMGs. "The Ferraris looked quite close today and the rest of the field seemed closer in general, but hopefully not too close," said Hamilton. "Its very hard to overtake here, so pole position is important. "Nico looked very quick as well, so I have my work cut out for sure. Well find out everyones pace in qualifying (Saturday) afternoon, so lets wait and see what happens." Hamilton thrives on the tightly-cornered 4,361-kilometre circuit, and the superior power of this years Mercedes engine makes the Briton and his German-Finnish teammate Rosberg heavy favourites to stretch their winning run to start the Formula One season to seven races. Hamilton is a three-time winner in Montreal, and will be gunning for his fourth pole position in qualifying. Rosberg is looking for a second pole and a second win in a row after a victory at Monaco two weeks ago. "It felt pretty good out there, but weve still got improvements to make and there is more to come from the set-up and balance," said Hamilton. "Were not quite where we want to be yet." Hamilton posted a quickest lap of one minute 16.118 seconds, just ahead of Rosberg at 1:16.293. Defending champion Sebastian Vettels Red Bull car was third at 1:16.573 followed by the two Ferraris, Kimi Raikkonen in 1:16.573 and Alonso in 1:16.701. "Im still a tenth off the quickest time so Ill work hard with our engineers to find that extra pace," said Rosberg. "Its a unique track here, and its very difficult to hit the curbs just right." The Mercedes team has been all-but unbeatable since the switch to more fuel-efficient 1.6-litre turbo engines this season. They have won every race, with Hamilton taking four and Rosberg two, and have finished one-two in the last five. There has been more competition between the teammates than with the rest of the grid so far, but perhaps the tracks peculiarities, and its lurking dangers, will make a race of it on Sunday. The circuit features long straightaways leading into sharp turns. There are chicanes, including one near the home stretch that has sent many top drivers into the concrete barrier known as the Wall of Champions. "It is a short lap here, which closes up the field anyway, but it feels like Ferrari might be pushing us harder this weekend," said Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff. "We will need to get every detail right to deliver our potential in the race, so theres plenty of work still ahead of us.dddddddddddd" Alonso caused a mild surprise by beating the Mercedes in the morning practice session, but Rosberg topped the Spaniards time of 1:17.238 early in the afternoon runs. When the Mercedes drivers switched to supersoft tires 30 minutes into the afternoon, they were too quick for the field. The two-time world champion Spaniard, a winner in Canada in 2006, is a distant third in drivers standings behind the two Mercedes but it is still early in the 19-race season. He said this week his car is improving, even if the gap with Mercedes will be very difficult to close. "Its going to be tough," said Alonso. "There are updates coming to the car that weve been working on for some weeks. "All these hopes, we need to see it on the track. Its one of the shorter circuits, so we expect the times to be really close. So we need to find perfection. One or two tenths can be six or seven positions. We need to be in the front of those cars." The large crowd that turned out on a cool, overcast day got its first earful of the new F1 engines, which no longer have the high-pitched whine that was the sports signature sound for years. Instead, its a much quieter rumble. Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 F1 champion and a native of Iberville, Que., has no problem with the sound. "The problem with the engine isnt the volume," said Villeneuve. "Its good. "You can bring your kids and you know that you wont blow their eardums. Thats a good thing. You can have a phone conversation. The problem you can feel that theres no power. Theres no grunt. If you look at the turbos in the 1980s, the volume wasnt really louder, but you could tell the drivers were fighting with a wild animal. Thats not the case now." A dicey moment came 27 minutes in when Adrian Sutil had to take a short cut over a curb to avoid crashing into Kevin Magnussens slow-moving McLaren. Stewards investigated the incident and decided it did not warrant a penalty. However, Red Bulls Daniel Riccardo was given a reprimand for passing Pastor Maldonados Lotus in "a manner potentially dangerous to others" in pit lane. It was the Aussies first reprimand of the season. Jules Bianchi of Marussia hit a wall hard and sustained heavy damage in the morning practice but the French driver felt he would be will be OK afternoon. But after three laps his Ferrari-powered car stayed in the garage most of the afternoon. Caterham had 22-year-old American Alexander Rossi in Kamui Kobayashis car for the first practice, although the Japanese driver took over in the afternoon session. Rossi, a GP2 driver being groomed for F1, was last in the 22-car field at 1:21.757, just behind teammate Marcus Ericsson. Rossi will also drive in practice at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas in November. ' ' '