The Denver Nuggets’ NBA Cup run comes to an end tonight. After losing two games in the Cup (including a tough loss to the hapless New Orleans Pelicans), the Nuggets have already been eliminated from the knockout rounds. However, it is still the fourth game of their group and the last opponent from this group they will face tonight is the Golden State Warriors. Golden State is aging gracefully in Stephen Curry’s final years and the Warriors are once again off to a good start to the season. The Nuggets, meanwhile, are trying to find some consistency, and there’s no better time than now.
The essentials
WHO: Denver Nuggets (10-8) vs. Golden State Warriors (12-7)
When: 8:00 p.m. MST
Where: The tin. Denver, CO
How to watch/listen: TNT. Altitude radio 92.5 FM. If you walk into the ball arena with rockin’ fly gear and some Joker 1s, they’ll probably think you’re just part of Nikola Jokic’s marketing team.
Rivals Blog: Golden state of mind
The matchup
| position | Nuggets | warrior | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Steph Curry | warrior |
| SG | Christian Braun | Brandin Podziemski | Even |
| SF | Michael Porter Jr. | Andrew Wiggins | Even |
| PF | Aaron Gordon | Trayce Jackson Davis | Nuggets |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Kevon Looney | Nuggets |
| bank | Russell Westbrook, Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, Hunter Tyson | Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield, Lindy Waters III, Gary Payton II, Kyle Anderson | Even |
The three things
What you should pay attention to: Steph Curry vs. Jamal Murray
It wasn’t the start anyone, including Jamal, wanted this season, but I’m not too worried about his shooting/offensive issues. Murray is figuring this out as the season progresses and we’ve seen it many times before. If he’s healthy, he can turn it up again in the spring. But his defense…yikes. Tonight he draws the legendary and still incredibly deadly Curry as a defensive assignment. Sure, Michael Malone will try to put Christian Braun on Curry to make life difficult for him, but it’s very obvious that teams are looking for switches to pair their best perimeter scorer with Murray, and I wouldn’t do that either Tonight, in the near future, expect the future to be different. Murray needs to find his defenses or this will continue to be a problem all season.
Here’s what you should remember: Draymond probably won’t play
The Warriors list Draymond Green as questionable, but Steve Kerr says it’s more doubtful. Green also didn’t practice with the Warriors in Denver yesterday. The loss of Draymond makes life pretty difficult for the Warriors. Normally they would start him at the four with Kevon Looney at the five and let Green chase Jokic all night, but that won’t be an option for them tonight. I can see Looney starting tonight and handling most of the Nikola duties, which is less than ideal for the Warriors. Size-wise, there isn’t much to say for the Warriors. The seven-footer Quinten Post, who has a two-way contract, has not yet played this season and after him there is no other player over 1.80 m in the squad. We may well see a few minutes between Kyle Anderson and Nikola Jokic tonight, and we know how that goes (advantage: Nikola).
What to bet on: Nikola Jokic 13+ assists (+325)
Okay, we’re going a little risky here with an alternative bet that’s pretty far from the finish line. If you want, you can put Jokic over 9.5 assists at -120 and collect the free money, but I’m playing tonight. Like I said, the Warriors have no size and no Draymond. The doubles against Nikola will come with every touch of the post, meaning he will keep his teammates on their toes all night long. It wouldn’t shock me if he puts up some big assist numbers tonight.
