The Denver Nuggets were shorthanded to say the least on Monday night. They were missing three starters, including Nikola Jokic and faced the very tall task of facing the red hot Golden State Warriors on their court. Aaron Gordon had his best game of the season while Russell Westbrook put on a passing clinic and that put Denver in the driver’s seat early. They repelled run after run from the Warriors and never relinquished the lead after the first quarter. One game after their worst loss of the season, the Nuggets might just have had their best. They come up with a big victory, 114-105.

Game Breakdown

Gordon provided most of the offense for Denver and they were running the court early. Golden State stayed right with the Nuggets with Quentin Post getting some easy looks inside. Michael Porter Jr. asserted himself after that and scored six straight, that made Steve Kerr call a timeout to refocus the Warriors. They were able to keep Denver from growing the lead but Porter still kept the Nuggets in front. Eventually that well went dry and Golden State started to close in. Michael Malone called a timeout and started inserting some of the bench but that made the offense completely bottom out. The Warriors took the lead by virtue of being the only team that could score points. Right before the end of the quarter Zeke Nnaji and Porter knocked down back to back threes to get back in front and after one Denver led 29-22.

The Warriors opened the quarter with six straight points which drew another Nuggets timeout and Malone put Porter and Gordon back into the game quickly. They got Denver’s offense going again along with Westbrook who was pushing the pace. The Nuggets opened up an eleven point lead while Russ dimed up teammate after teammate and the lead ballooned to a dozen plus. Steph Curry started to get going which kept Golden State from completely losing control of the game. Gary Payton II also gave the Warriors some life and they got back within single digits with just under three minutes to go. The Nuggets defense tightened up while Gordon and Westbrook provided some offense which led to a strong close to the half for Denver. They led 62-50 at the break.

Neither team could score early in the second half but the Nuggets created a couple easy looks with Westbrook pocket passes and kept the lead above ten. Russ seemed to be intent on setting a new personal assist record and kept finding open teammates. As the quarter progressed there was a good minute plus of terrible basketball that ultimately resulted in an easy dunk for Jimmy Butler and a timeout from Malone. It didn’t help a ton and the Warriors started to work into Denver’s lead a bit. The Nuggets still didn’t let Golden State get it below double digits and seemed to have a response to each mini-run from the Warriors. In the final ninety seconds the group on the floor was essentially Porter and Denver’s deep bench and that unit struggled. Golden State was able to trim it to nine but Vlatko Cancar hit a three in the final moments and Denver headed to the fourth up 89-77.

The Nuggets offense was pretty disorganized opening the fourth quarter. Russ tried to lead the offense but he didn’t have any weapons with him. Golden State mounted yet another rally and pulled within eight points with eight minutes left in the quarter. Denver started shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly and the Warriors got the lead down to three just a couple minutes later. The Nuggets responded and didn’t let Golden State overtake them by putting together a 6-0 run. It went back and fourth heading down the stretch and Denver clinging to a half dozen or so point lead. At times it seemed as though they wanted nothing more than to just let the clock run out and they struggled terribly on offense. They’d get just enough to keep their head above water though. Gordon was the one consistent force when it came to scoring and had a huge bucket after huge bucket every time Denver desperately needed one. Westbrook somehow made a silly line drive shot from the free throw line to put the Nuggets back up by ten with under 30 seconds to go and that was all she wrote. Denver gets a fantastic, gritty 114-105 win.