OAKLAND, Calif. -- Despite sitting their starters the entire second half of a close game, the Golden State Warriors recorded a 67th win in their regular-season finale Wednesday night, edging the Denver Nuggets 133-126.

The Warriors, who finished with the best record in the league (67-15), will take an 18-game home winning streak into the opener of their first-round playoff series Saturday afternoon against eighth-seeded New Orleans. The best-of-7 series opens with two games in Oakland, with Golden State hosting Game 2 on Monday.

No starter played more than 20 minutes, but the Warriors nonetheless were able to become just the 10th team in NBA history to win 67 games in a single season.

Golden State's second win in three meetings with the Nuggets this season also allowed the Warriors to finish 39-2 at home. Only seven teams in league history have reached that win total at home in one season.

The Warriors trailed 124-122 with 2:24 to go before seldom-used swingman Brandon Rush tipped in a miss by backup center Marreese Speights to trigger an 11-0, game-winning flurry.

The key play in the sequence occurred two possessions later, when Nuggets reserve forward Joffrey Lauvergne was nailed with a technical foul for disputing a foul call.

Speights made the technical foul shot, then added another pair of free throws that resulted from the foul, breaking the tie and giving Golden State a lead it never relinquished.

Speights was one of four Warriors reserves to score in double figures, finishing with 17 points. Fellow backup Justin Holiday added 14.

Shooting guard Klay Thompson poured in a game-high 25 points in 16 first-half minutes and backcourt-mate Stephen Curry had 10 points, seven assists and five steals for the Warriors. They combined for seven 3-pointers, finishing the season with 525, 41 more than in their record-setting season last year.

The Nuggets (30-52) also had seven players in double figures, led by starting forwards Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari with 18 points apiece.

Starting center Jusuf Nurkic had 17, as did guard Erick Green off the bench for Denver, which finished with the seventh-worst record in the NBA.

The loss was the Nuggets' eighth straight on the road to end the season.

The Warriors couldn't put away the Nuggets in a first half during which Golden State's regulars played their usual number of minutes.

In fact, Denver dominated the second period, pouring in 44 points on 16-for-23 shooting, to overcome a slow start and stay within 71-67. The Nuggets' front line of Gallinari, Chandler and Nurkic combined to outscore the Warriors' starting frontcourt of small forward Harrison Barnes, power forward Draymond Green and center Andrew Bogut 46-18.

NOTES: All eyes at Oracle Arena before tip-off were focused on the San Antonio-New Orleans game, which not only made the Pelicans the Warriors' first-round playoff opponent but also made the defending-champion Spurs a possible second-round foe. ... The Warriors were informed earlier in the day that they'd be opening the playoffs on Saturday, which prompted Golden State coach Steve Kerr to cancel a film session Thursday and replace it with a practice. ... Nuggets coach Melvin Hunt admitted before the game he was happy to be in Oakland for the regular-season finale, noting, β€œWith all the playoff talk going around, our guys hear it and it hurts. And I want it to hurt. I want them to be deeply wounded by this so that when we come back next year, I won't have to motivate them."