Warriors can't quite get out of hole they dug, fall to Nuggets despite strong 2nd half

Offense spent most of the game discombobulated, couldn't combobulate back in time... but it was close!

Back in the peak dynasty days, this was a game the Golden State Warriors would have one. After falling behind by more than twenty in the first half, they closed the gap but couldn’t quite hang on to beat a tough Denver Nuggets performance.

It was a patented Eric Apricot “random ending” with all the momentum seemingly coming down on this one late play where Jokic coughed up a critical turnover, and then Warriors rookie Jonathan Kuminga ended up getting stuffed by Jokic in the low post.

Here’s the random ending play:

Rob Perez @WorldWideWob

Jokic throws it away, makes up for it at the rim on *defense*

Instead, the Warriors lost, with a 1990’s NBA total score of 89-86.

Golden State’s offense was clearly hampered by the absence of Draymond Green, who is almost certain to miss the upcoming road duo against these same Nuggets, and then a sneaky tough Utah Jazz team.

That is was this close at all was something of a late game miracle. The Warriors’ classic turnover issues popped up (they had 18 turnovers) and as a team, Golden State shot just under 50% on their 31 free throw attempts.

Grant Liffmann @GrantLiffmann

Very impressive 2nd half defense by the Warriors without Draymond Green, holding DEN to 29 points Wasnt enough in the end. Mostly because the Warriors shot 16-31 from the FT line

Credit to an equally short-handed Denver Nuggets team for getting it done against a Warriors squad that just would not quit. These teams will go again on Thursday in Denver.

As always, this is just a short fresh thread for our community. Full coverage will resume tomorrow.