The Denver Nuggets ran out of gas against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, going down 118-104 in a subpar effort.

Stephen Curry dropped 36 points, shooting 7-of-15 from three and repeatedly generating space away from Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, and the Nuggets perimeter defenders. Any time Nikola Jokic stepped out high to help, Curry broke that coverage with pocket passes to the middle of the floor, and the rest of the Warriors did the rest. Brandin Podziemski logged 26 points, Jimmy Butler had 19, and the Warriors as a team shot 42.1% from three and 88.9% from the free throw line.

They were precise, and the Nuggets were not. The Nuggets were a disaster at times offensively, logging 25 turnovers as a team and wasting what was another strong scoring performance from Nikola Jokic. He had 33 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists, shooting 13-of-17 from the field and 4-of-7 from three. Jokic also had six turnovers, but that was partially because of the coverages the Warriors were forced to throw his way after an impressive first quarter. The Warriors used a Box-and-1, picked up Jokic full court, doubled him on the catch relentlessly, and simply packed the paint as much as they could while daring others to win the game. Jokic did what he could, but it wasn’t enough.

Michael Porter shot the ball well in his return with 23 points and nine rebounds, shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 3-of-7 from three. His shot selection was questionable at times, but he made several. The real issues for Porter were turnovers and defense, as he struggled to consistently execute Denver’s defensive scheme outside of a nice block on a rearview contest.

Aaron Gordon had 15 points and eight assists, setting the table well for teammates, but he was the only one outside of Jokic to be an accurate playmaker. It was a pretty dispiriting offensive performance for Denver despite shooting over 54% from the field, 38% from three, and 92% from the line. Denver’s detail work simply wasn’t good enough, and the Nuggets were out of control.

Russell Westbrook in particular had a poor game off the bench with five points on 2-of-9 from the field and four turnovers. He certainly wasn’t the only one though. Vlatko Cancar and Zeke Nnaji combined for zero points, zero assists, zero rebounds, and three turnovers in 11 bench minutes. Jalen Pickett was the only one off the bench to stay consistent throughout the game, but even Pickett scored just eight points and had three assists. It simply wasn’t enough production.

Jamal Murray was out for this contest, but Julian Strawther was active, back from a knee sprain that he suffered over a month ago. Strawther didn’t play until the final minute of the game though. Perhaps Michael Malone and the Nuggets coaching staff will be prompted to add Strawther back into the mix at some point.

Overall though, it was a pretty disappointing performance. Golden State was on a back-to-back, and yet they looked like the far more interested and engaged team. The Nuggets looked disinterested at times, making mistakes that a championship contender simply doesn’t make by this stage of the season when the vast majority of players are healthy and playing.

Danger, Will Robinson!

Here are the standings heading into today (Saturday, April 5th):

Via ESPN

Denver’s dropping like a rock in the standings right now. They’ve lost three in a row and are 4-6 in their last 10 games. While the Los Angeles Lakers still have a tough schedule in their final five games, that implies that the Oklahoma City Thunder will try hard and be locked in for both of those matchups. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Lakers hold onto the third seed after Denver just dropped three games in a row.

The Warriors, Timberwolves, Clippers, and Grizzlies are right on Denver’s heels with 31 and 32 losses. It’s become a distinct possibility that the Nuggets, if they go 2-2 or worse in the final four games, could fall into the Play-In tournament mix. Because Denver plays Indiana, Sacramento, and Memphis next, all teams that have something to play for, it’s not going to be a cakewalk for the Nuggets the rest of the way.

Murray will be back in the coming days, but it’s not like he’s going to be fully rested. He’s played over 2,300 minutes already this season which ranks 28th in the NBA on the year. Joining him in the top 30 for the Nuggets are Christian Braun (14th), Michael Porter Jr. (19th), and Nikola Jokic (22nd).

So, on top of the Nuggets struggling post All-Star Break, on top of the Defensive Rating being the worst among both conferences among teams that qualify for the Play-In outside of the Chicago Bulls, on top of the frustration that’s clearly boiling over a bit for Nikola Jokic…the Nuggets starters will also not be rested heading into the playoffs this year.

Danger, Will Robinson!

There’s (hopefully) a lot of basketball left to be played. The sun’s getting real low though. Are the Nuggets going to flip the metaphorical switch? Do they even have a switch to flip at this point? There’s been no “it’s time to lock in” moment this season. The Nuggets simply beat up on a bunch of bad teams in February.

That’s not good enough, and it may not be good enough to get out of the first round this year, let alone make a serious run.

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