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The 2nd seed Denver Nuggets travelled to the Oracle Arena to face off against the top seeded team Golden State Warriors in a hotly anticipated match-up. Both teams were looking to get one over the other and the 4 game series was at a 1-1 deadlock.
The Nuggets were coming into this win with a 43-21 record while the Warriors were leading the Western Conference with a 44-20 record. The match was a great one and it was the Golden State Warriors who came out on top, with a huge 122-105 win over the Denver Nuggets.
Let us look at the 3 biggest talking points from this game.
#3 DeMarcus Cousins is getting back to his best
DeMarcus Cousins endured a rough season last year when his season ended early in a contract year, and it was an Achilles tear, something big men do not recover from easily. Boogie did not receive a maximum deal in the summer but signed with the Golden State Warriors, and ever since returning to the court in 2019, he has slowly and steadily gotten better, game after game.
He has been averaging a solid 15.3 points per game, along with 8 rebounds and 3.4 assists as well in 25 minutes per game. His minutes have slowly gone up and so has his production. In the game against the Denver Nuggets last night, Boogie scored 13 points, shooting under 50% from the field, making 5 of his 11 attempts in 28 minutes. He also had 6 rebounds and made 6 assists as well.
But his biggest contribution was on the defensive end, where he kept Nikola Jokic quiet, grabbing 3 steals and 6 massive blocks, which was a huge improvement from the other games he has had this season. If the Golden State Warriors have Boogie playing at his best, there will probably be nobody who can take them down this season.
#2 The Denver Nuggets suffered from a rough shooting night
The Denver Nuggets endured a tough loss on the road against the conference leaders Golden State Warriors and this was down to a few reasons, mainly their shooting woes. None of the Nuggets starters saw 30 minutes, with Jokic playing 29 minutes. The defense played by the Warriors was superb and they kept the Nuggets at bay.
Gary Harris continued his woeful season, missing both of his field goal attempts as he scored just 6 points in 22 minutes. Paul Millsap could muster only 16 minutes due to early foul trouble, scoring just 9 points, making just 3 of his 8 shot attempts. Will Barton too suffered in the 26 minutes he played, scoring 5 points, making just 2 of his 11 field goal attempts. Jamal Murray reached double figures, scoring 11 points in 23 minutes and also shot poorly at 40%.
Nikola Jokic too had a rough game, as he managed just 16 points in 29 minutes, though he shot 50% from the field. He was still the best player for the Nuggets against the Warriors, grabbing 6 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists, along with swiping the ball 4 times and getting a block too.
Monte Morris and Mallik Beasley led the team in scoring, both hitting 17 points as the Nuggets let the bench players close out the game. The Nuggets need their stars performing at their best against the big teams if they want to compete with the big boys in the playoffs.
#1 Can the Golden State Warriors be stopped?
The Golden State Warriors have suffered a lot of losses this season, 20 to be exact. They have not lost these many games since the 2013-14 season, when they exited the playoffs in the first round and were not the Warriors everyone know now. This season has been exciting for them in different ways and they still are unstoppable.
They have the arguably the best shooter in league history in Steph Curry, along with the 2nd best shooter in the league in Klay Thompson. They have a back to back finals MVP in Kevin Durant, and a defensive player of the year candidate almost every year in Draymond Green.
Given all these talents at their disposal, they now also have DeMarcus Cousins, who before his Achilles tear, was probably the best center in the league. They can go big when they want, they can switch to the Hamptons 5 when they want. They probably have the best squad this league has seen in a long time and it does not seem like this team can be stopped so easily.
In the game against the Nuggets, it was Klay Thompson who came out on top with a great performance, scoring 39 points, making 13 of his 22 shot attempts. He made up for Steph's lack of scoring tonight, where he could score just 17 points, shooting 37.5% from the field. Durant was on point too, scoring an efficient 26 points, shooting 67% from the field.
DeMarcus Cousins shot less than 50% on the floor, but scored 13 points along with 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 6 massive blocks as he turned in his most efficient performance in a long time.
The Warriors might be unstoppable this season if they keep turning in performances like this.
Guess the Lakers players!
