Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors Preview
The Matchup: Golden State (36-2; Road 18-2) at Denver (14-24; Home 6-11)
Location: Pepsi Center – Denver, CO
Time: Wednesday, January 13th at 7:00 pm MT
How To Watch: NBA TV, Altitude
Betting Line (Bovada): DEN +10
Projected Starting Lineups:
Denver: PG Emmanuel Mudiay, SG Gary Harris, SF Danilo Gallinari, PF Kenneth Faried, C Joffrey Lauvergne
Golden State: PG Steph Curry, SG Klay Thompson, SF Brandon Rush, PF Harrison Barnes, C Andrew Bogut
The last time these two teams played scary injuries played a vital role.
After point guard Stephen Curry aggravated his sore shin, the Warriors large lead fell and a great Nuggets run began. Denver even had the lead before the game headed to overtime.
With 15.6 seconds in overtime, and the Nuggets trailing by just two, the team saw power forward Kenneth Faried take a scary fall and he had to be carted off; yet, the game continued as medical staff tended to the injury.
Missing key shots late, the Denver Nuggets would go on to lose the game 111-108. Having lost the earlier two match-ups against the Warriors this season, this will be the final regular season game against the Warriors.
What will be the keys to show Denver can hang with the defending champions and keep it close enough for an upset late?
Returning Stars:
Center Jusuf Nurkić made his season debut against the Warriors in the overtime loss described above. Playing only five minutes in the match-up, the 6’11” center scored three points. Since then Nurkić has gone on to averaging 12-plus minutes off the bench and could see twenty plus minutes again.
Not only is Nurkić playing more minutes but also how he is playing is important. Reminding Nuggets fans what made them hopeful last year, the “Bosnian Beast” has already earned a double-double off the bench against the Timberwolves.
Though Nurkić likely won’t start, his increased minutes will greatly affect the game as it has against the Timberwolves and Hornets recently.
Also in the overtime game it is important to note point guard Emmanuel Mudiay was not playing due to an ankle injury. Mudiay would have greatly helped the team as the offense was placed solely on the shoulders of Will Barton who failed to create offense late in overtime.
Though both won’t likely be on the court at the same time much, both stars will show a great impact.
Nuggets’ Keys For Victory:
Both Nurkić and Mudiay coming back in some regard is an already a very important key for the Nuggets. The latter is important to the other keys for the Nuggets.
As mentioned, coming back Mudiay must try help the team keep the offense spread out and not force one player to make every shot unassisted, which it has struggled to do lately. In addition having fast break points to help the team who has struggled in the half court offense at times would also be very impactful.
These fast break points tie into the last key. If the Nuggets have any chance of winning Mudiay will have to try to slow down Curry. Though his shin is sore, don’t let this fool you. Wearing a brace, Curry will be just as dangerous as he has ever been. Mudiay slowing Curry would help the team not to have to play from behind in what will likely be a high scoring game.
Score Prediction:
Warriors 119, Nuggets 110