The Warriors regained first place
Without Poole and without Wiggins, the Golden State Warriors still beat the Denver Nuggets and regained the league's number one spot. Stephen Curry won the scoring championship last season, but the team failed to reach the playoffs, why this season, Curry's personal performance did not improve, but the Warriors occupied the first place in the league? The reason is simple, this Warriors have too many players who can play, no matter who is out, there will be other players to stand up and help the team win the game.
In contrast, Jokic has too many troubles. In terms of individual performance, Jokic is not inferior to Steven Curry, but the team only has a record of 16 wins and 16 losses, and may fall out of the top eight in the West at any time. Contrary to the Warriors, everything the Nuggets can play is injured, and there is really no one on the team who can stand up and share the pressure for Jokic.
Curry was crowned king by three points
However, the start of this game was somewhat surprising. Steven Curry shot 0-of-2 in the first quarter, with only 2 assists and 4 turnovers, Wiggins scored 7 points and 1 rebound, but to no avail, the Warriors only scored 16 points in a single quarter, while the Nuggets bombed 31 points, including Jokic 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, and Barton 5-of-6 shooting was 14 points, 1 assist and 1 block. The Nuggets took a 15-point lead in the first quarter, and the gap in the second quarter grew wider.
Curry still did not find the feel, only 2 points and 1 rebound on 1 of 4 shooting, the Warriors only had 20 points in a single quarter, and only scored 36 points in the half, such Warriors are rare. The Nuggets seized the opportunity and managed to take a 24-point lead at the end of the half. In the second half, the Nuggets fell into a scoring drought, Wiggins continued to play steadily on the offensive end, and even blocked Jokic on the defensive end, leading the Warriors to continuously narrow the point gap. Stephen Curry also hit the first three-pointer of the game and the 3,000th career three-pointer, the only one in history.
The Nuggets scored just 14 points in the third quarter, and the Warriors managed to narrow the gap to 13 points. In the final quarter that determines the outcome of the game, the Warriors continue to catch up, and Cuminga continues to cut in the air, narrowing the point difference to single digits. Curry scored 15 points in the final quarter, but in the end, luck was on the side of the Nuggets, and the Warriors lost the game 86-89 and missed four consecutive wins.
Warriors can't live without you
Many people don't know the importance of Dream Green to this Warriors and steven Curry, after all, his data is indeed a bit mediocre. But in this game, in the absence of Dream Green, the performance of the Warriors and Curry is telling us that they need to chase Green. In the whole game, the Warriors only had 20 assists and 17 turnovers, you know, they are the second team in the league to average assists per game. Curry only had 23 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in the game, and it was really difficult without dream Green's blocking and passing.
Wiggins returned, 21 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist, and 2 steals and 1 block, he is still the Warriors' most stable scoring point, whether the Warriors bomb 130 points or 86 points in a game, his score will not change anything. The Warriors lose the game, the most critical link is the free throw, the team's 31 out of 16 free throw shooting rate, where there is no reason not to lose.
The Nuggets almost overturned in the second half, this team is indeed not enough personnel, playing until the second half of the fatigue, such as Jokic, the first half of 8 shots 6 unstoppable, the second half only 11 shots 2, the whole game 22 points, 18 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, is still MVP level performance. Barton became a Wizard, with 21 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, and the Nuggets really needed one of those scoring points to help Jokic if they wanted to win. However, it is worth mentioning that except for Jokic and Barton, the Nuggets have no other players to score in double figures.