Old Habits Die Hard: Shorthanded Nuggets force Warriors back to mid-season woes

Russell Westbrook revenge game??

Turnovers. Missed free throws. Cold from deep. The dreaded trifecta that puts any team at a disadvantage. Hard to win games, much less push for the playoffs when you have to overcome self-inflicted wounds. Warrior fans have come to accept a higher turnover rate given the offensive style and pace. Missing from the charity stripe has always been a head scratcher for me. It’s all in the name. It’s called “free” for a reason. For a team that pioneered the three point revolution, it’s tough to watch our Dubs struggle from long range.

Conventional wisdom suggests - pick two of the three to overcome the third. The Warriors have quietly been able to overcome recent turnover struggles (18 per game over the last 6 games) to keep the recent win streak afloat. Much has been written about the increase in free throws attempted and make percentage since the Jimmy Butler trade. Moses Moody and Quinten Post have been great in the starting line up as additional deep threats plus a few welcomed yet unexpected treys from Draymond Green and Gary Payton II would keep us streaking.

As Monday rolled around and St. Patty’s Day plans finalized, perhaps the odds might shift in our favor on the first of a back to back against two recent NBA champs. The morning injury report listed MVP (1a or 1b) candidate Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and most improved candidate Christian Braun all questionable. Meanwhile, the Warriors had Stephen Curry and his recently ailing back along with Post also listed as questionable. While pouring my first Guinness of the evening, I learned those Nuggets would all sit while Curry and Post would warm up and be a game time decision. Given the opportunity and playoff implications, we needed to be firing all cylinders to put this one in the win column.

On this night, the Denver Nuggets would embody the next man up mentality, showing themselves primed for a deep playoff run. Aaron Gordon punished the undersized Warriors all night long. The San Jose native and Archbishop Mitty alum (my Frother In Law’s alma mater too) chose violence from the get go with his physicality and bully ball down low leading all scorers with a game high 38 points. As if he wasn’t cooking in the paint, he also went 4 of 6 from long distance. Russell Westbrook flashed his MVP form busting a triple double (12pts, 12reb, 16ast). His relentless energy paced the Nuggets on both ends. Timely buckets by Michael Porter Jr. despite streaky percentages still managed 21 and 10 boards.

The Denver Nuggets height, length and physicality proved too much over the course of the evening - out-rebounding the Warriors 53-38 while forcing 20 turnovers (24 points off TOs). The hole was dug early and it was just too much to battle back from with these bad habits rearing their ugly head. Just when you think the Warriors would find their offensive rhythm, a costly turnover or a missed GSW layup plus a DEN and-1 on the other end would hush the Chase Center hopeful.

Defensively, the Warriors did OK against the Nuggets - 46% from the field, 36% from 3PT. Good defense to force a missed DEN shot, but struggle to secure the defensive rebound. Sometimes it looked like GSW was the little brother trying to get the rebound against big brother. I actually thought our halftime adjustments played well to counter Denver’s overplaying and switching everything on defense. Then I noticed we simply maintained the 12 point halftime deficit heading into the final quarter. Those 12 missed FTs didn’t help either.

Bright Spots

On a night when Unanimous would struggle, it was great to see key contributions from Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Gary Payton II aka Young Glove. Draymond battled relentlessly against the taller, bigger Nuggets with his help defense and playmaking. Butler tallied 23 points on 50% shooting along with 8 boards and 6 dimes. Payton II exhibited that immediate impact bench player we’ve come to love. Keep sinking those open 3s.

Turbo Running Low

Remember the Midway classic video game NBA Jam? I always hated running out of turbo while my opponent catches fire. It’s like the Warriors used up their turbo juice to close the gap only to have the Nuggets counter with their turbo meter at max. Draymond looked completely spent during his post-game interview. Gone was that exuberance from Saturday’s battle with Karl Anthony-Towns. Coach Steve Kerr came out and said Steph’s tired. He’s been carrying the team for the past few games.

After tormenting the league for much of the last decade, there’s no pity party for our beloved Warriors. We get another big, long, athletic team in the form of the Milwaukee Bucks with their own dynamic duo of Giannis and Dame Time tonight. SC30 is currently listed as day-to-day while Brandin Podziemski looks to return from injury.