Led by Klay Thompson’s early hot hand, the Golden State Warriors had the perfect shot against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
The Warriors lead by 15 points at home and are full of hope for a win. But the Denver Nuggets proved why they are the defending champions, and Nikola Jokic also showed why he is one of the best players at the moment.
Responding to Golden State with two 14-0 runs, Denver completed the comeback with a 119-103 victory, continuing to close to the No. 1 position in the Western rankings that currently belongs to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Golden State Warriors were the team that started better this match thanks to Klay Thompson scoring 23 points, hitting five 3-pointers in the first and second quarters. But the Denver Nuggets closed out the first half with a first 14-0 run, erasing Warriors completely took advantage and equalized the score 61-61.
After the break, Nikola Jokic and his teammates opened another 14-0 scoring streak to go from a tie to a 14-point lead in the third quarter (76-65). At this time, Golden State tried very hard but still could not shorten the score because both Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry were cold.
At the end of the match, it was time for the Denver Nuggets to show off their Playoffs image when the duo of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic “matched their swords”. They took turns holding the ball and continuously brought points back to the away team to seal the final victory.
No one could stop Nikola Jokic on the day he pocketed a huge triple-double. The Denver Nuggets superstar scored 32 points, 16 rebounds and had 16 assists, marking his 3rd consecutive triple-double and 139th. in career.
This achievement pushed Jokic past LeBron James to become the player with the fourth most triple-doubles of all time (including Regular Season and Playoffs).
Playing the role of “The Joker”‘s companion is Jamal Murray, owner of 27 points (9-16 FG) with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and many difficult finishing situations in the fourth quarter.
Not only did Denver attack well, they also defended impressively by completely extinguishing Klay Thompson. The Warriors pitcher, after pocketing 23 points in the first and second halves, did not score any more points in the second half of the match.
Stephen Curry had 20 points and 4 assists today but only scored 1 successful 3-point shot, reaching 6-19 FG and 1-10 3PT. The duo of Kuminga and Wiggins scored 19 and 14 points respectively.
Besides Nikola Jokic climbing to fourth place in terms of all-time triple-doubles in the NBA, this match also has another interesting statistic.
This is the 10th victory in the last 11 meetings of the Denver Nuggets against the Golden State Warriors, and also the 7th consecutive victory of the defending NBA champion team against a team that has won the throne 4 times in the past decade.
This statistic is probably enough for the Golden State Warriors to do everything they can to avoid meeting the Denver Nuggets early in the Playoffs round.
