The Golden State Warriors had a tall task on Friday night: beat the red-hot Denver Nuggets while Steph Curry stayed at home trying to overcome an illness that has wiped him out.
And, well … they were not up to that tall task. Instead, they got crushed by the Nuggets in their first game of the in-season tournament seeding round. With Curry sidelined and Jimmy Butler III still not at full health, the Warriors were in desperate need of some offensive action from their young core, but those players were unable
to deliver. Jonathan Kuminga didn’t score in the first half, and finished with just six points on 3-for-10 shooting; Moses Moody didn’t score until the fourth quarter, and had just two points on 1-for-9 shooting; Brandin Podziemski was the “high scorer” of the group, with all of seven points on 3-for-10 shooting.
The lack of firepower was on display early. The Warriors started the game well, as Draymond Green made a three on the first possession (something he did in the second and third quarters as well), and then the team forced a shot clock violation. And then it was off to the races for Denver. The Warriors missed their next seven shots as the Nuggets scored 12 straight points, forcing Steve Kerr to call a timeout less than five minutes into the game. And they responded to the timeout by promptly turning the ball over. It was that kind of night.
Kerr would call another timeout two minutes later, this time with the team trailing 18-6, but it did little. He turned to a two-big lineup at one point, which briefly worked: Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis scored all the points in a 7-0 burst, as the team got quite scrappy. But Denver responded, as they would all night, and led 32-21 after one.
Golden State showed. good life to start the second, opening the quarter with a 10-0 run to pull within a point. It briefly looked like they’d make a game out of it, but Denver did them one better, by immediately responding with a 12-0 run of their own, which turned into a 21-3 run. Everything was clicking for the Nuggets: Jonas Valančiūnas made a pair of threes during the run, his first of the season, and Nikola Jokić was able to chill for an extended period on the bench. The Warriors kept knocking, but the Nuggets — led by a red-hot Jamal Murray — kept answering, and it was a 66-49 game at the break. Things were grim, and they wouldn’t get better.
The Warriors were active to start the third quarter, but it didn’t really accomplish much. There was more energy, but they weren’t making shots, and they were still making sloppy passes while the Nuggets beat them down the court and caught fire from three. Kuminga finally came alive with a little flurry in the third, but it was one step forward, seven steps back for the Dubs, as the Nuggets pushed the lead into the 20s and took a 99-77 lead to the final frame.
Kerr gave his core players a few minutes to get back into it in the fourth, and then waved the white flag, understandably so. Without Curry, the Dubs just didn’t have enough to keep pace with a potent Denver squad, especially on the road.
