The Golden State Warriors won their 16th straight home game this afternoon defeating the Denver Nuggets 122-79. Today’s 43 point margin of victory was the Warriors’ best of the season. It was also Denver’s largest margin of defeat this season.
The Warrior starters had no issue building a solid lead in the first quarter. The Warrior bench busted the game wide open in the second quarter. Golden State never looked back.
Denver opened both of the first two quarters shooting 1-8. They finished the game shooting under 35%. The Warriors' defense is world class, but the Nuggets looked lost in the offensive sets.
None of the Warriors’ starters played over 26 minutes, and none of them needed to as the Warrior bench played big. Leandro Barbosa and Shaun Livingston each added 12 points. James Michael McAdoo made his NBA debut with an 11 point effort. The Splash Brothers both shot over 50% from the field and were perfect from the free throw line. Klay Thompson scored 22 points while Steph Curry scored 20.
Ty Lawson was the only Nugget starter who appeared to have a pulse. He finished with 19 points and 6 assists. Jameer Nelson scored 14 points and 5 assists. The Nuggets were sluggish. They were slow on defense, lacked effort on the boards, and shot abysmally.
J.J. Hickson was especially abysmal. he finished 1-6 from the field, including a blocked shot compliments of Steph Curry. He also airballed a free throw.
In the first of three match-ups against Golden State, the Warriors showed why they are the best in the league while the Nuggets showed inconsistencies in both talent and effort. Let’s hope the Nuggets at least compete tomorrow night against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs.
