The Golden State Warriors left their A-team home for their Monday trip to Denver, and the secondary players nearly pulled off an upset of the Nuggets.
The Warriors are expected to bring their stars for the rematch in Denver on Thursday night, although Otto Porter Jr. (illness) and Andre Iguodala (back) are listed as out.
Golden State ended a five-game losing streak with a Tuesday win over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers. That came a day after coach Steve Kerr held back Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins for rest in the Warriors’ 131-124 loss to the Nuggets.
Golden State had Wednesday off while the Nuggets played in Sacramento, beating the Kings 106-100. Denver now will complete one of the toughest back-to-back sets in the league — playing a late game on the West Coast and then playing in another time zone less than 24 hours later.
It is doubtful the Warriors feel sorry for the Nuggets. Golden State has lost all three games to Denver this season, including two in San Francisco. The Warriors will try to salvage the final regular-season matchup between the teams.
More important to the Warriors is getting back to the way they were playing before the calendar flipped to 2022. They are 17-16 since beating the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day.
“Come playoff time, but not even then, for these last 16 games we’ve got to just create great habits,” Thompson said after the Tuesday win. “When it comes to the playoffs, it’s a possession battle and we can’t have any empty possessions. We’ve got to at least get a shot up, get some great ball movement and be on a string together defensively.
“I’m really excited for the future, and this is going to be a great year. I can just feel it.”
A major factor for Golden State is getting healthy. Its best defensive player, Draymond Green, hopes to return from a back injury next week. The Nuggets also are optimistic they can get back key players before the end of the season, namely Michael Porter Jr. (back) and Jamal Murray (knee).
Denver is making a push without those two — and won Wednesday without Jeff Green, Will Barton and Bones Hyland. Barton hasn’t played since sustaining an ankle injury against New Orleans on Sunday. Hyland sat out Wednesday’s game with knee soreness, and Green was away from the team for the birth of his daughter.
Nuggets forward Zeke Nnaji (knee) played for the first time since Feb. 11 but finished scoreless in 20 minutes.
The Nuggets used every available body at Sacramento while recording their fourth win in a row and their 10th victory in 11 games. Nikola Jokic had another big game with 38 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists, and Monte Morris finished with 20 points.
Thursday will be the fourth game in five nights for the Nuggets, who have a chance to break a tie with the Dallas Mavericks for fifth place in the Western Conference and move within a game of the fourth-place Utah Jazz.
“We’re just resilient, we’ve got to keep going and don’t be satisfied,” Morris said after the Wednesday win. “Don’t feel sorry for ourselves in this stretch. I’m not satisfied, I want to keep winning and showing people we are tough.”
–Field Level Media