The Denver Nuggets are streaking. No, it’s not always been pretty (look no further than Friday night’s game against the Utah Jazz) but Denver is currently riding the wave of five straight victories. Tonight they go for six against the Golden State Warriors. Golden State is trying to save what nearly became a lost season for aging star Stephen Curry due to injuries. After free falling pretty much all of March (everyone on Golden State has been hurt), the Warriors have won three straight and are within striking distance of the 8th seed which would greatly increase their chances of surviving the play-in. Steph will not play tonight but the Warriors will still be dangerous. Nikola Jokic and company cant afford to overlook this crucial game.
Who: Denver Nuggets (47-28) vs Golden State Warriors (36-38)
When: 8PM MDT
Where: The Can. Denver, CO.
How to watch/listen: Peacock, NBC & Altitude Radio 92.5FM
Rival blog: Fast Break
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Warriors | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Will Richard | Nuggets |
| SG | Christian Braun | Brandin Podziemski | Even |
| SF | Cameron Johnson | Gui Santos | Even |
| PF | Aaron Gordon | Kristaps Porzingis | Even |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Draymond Green | Nuggets |
| Bench | Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Spencer Jones, Peyton Watson | Pat Spencer, LJ Cryer, Gary Payton II, Omer Yurtseven | Nuggets |
Injury report: Seth Curry – questionable (hip), Quinten Post – questionable (foot), Will Richard – questionable (heel), Jimmy Butler III – out (knee), Stephen Curry – out (knee), Al Horford – out (calf), Moses Moody – out (knee).
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Jamal Murray vs GS perimeter defenders.
While injuries have created a lot of turbulence for the Warriors they have also created opportunities. One of the guys benefitting is guard Will Richard, Golden State’s second round pick from this past Summer. Richard has been a regular fixture in the Warriors rotation pretty much all season and that’s built on the back of his defensive effort. He joins a group of high effort wings in Golden State that have the ability to switch and shut down perimeter scorers. Jamal Murray has experienced this as he’s largely been held in check against the Warriors this season. Whether it’s Richard, Brandin Podziemski or Gary Payton II off the bench, Jamal is going to have to earn his points tonight.
The thing to remember: No one is scoring on GS
The Warriors leading scorer on their active roster right now is Podziemski…who averages 13.2 points a game. This is a group that has been forced to play a lot of guys in roles they wouldn’t normally be in and that means it could be any guy on any given night that they lean on for scoring. Don’t be surprised if you see someone like Gui Santos going off or Kristaps Porzingis having a throwback game. Golden State is going to ride the hot hand by design. This is a team where I think David Adelman’s ultimate switching small ball lineup has a chance to be very successful. The Nuggets should be able to adapt to a myriad of players running the offense and GS won’t bring the size to make Denver pay for playing an undersized 5.
The thing to bet: Nikola Jokic over 12.5 rebounds (-144)
Not the best odds on this bet but it sure looks like a winner. Nikola Jokic has averaged 14.4 rebounds a game over his past 10, he is averaging 14 rebounds a game against the Warriors this season, he has secured 14 or more rebounds in four straight games….and he only needs 13 to make this bet cash. Additionally, Quinten Post may not play, leaving Golden State with just Porzingis as the only full roster player over 6’8″ tall (though they might give some minutes to two-way player Omer Yurtseven who is 6’11”).
