SAN FRANCISCO — The Denver Nuggets hit the Warriors with a reality check Sunday night at Chase Center.
The Dubs came into the game riding high, having won three straight games amid a larger stretch that has returned the team to respectability and the fringe of the Western Conference’s top six.
Golden State was starting to think they could turn this season — on the verge of being condemned only a few weeks ago — into something to remember.
Perhaps the Warriors can do that down the line.
But the Nuggets showed them that there’s a big gap between respectability and serious contention, and the Warriors are nowhere near that second status.
We saw the Nuggets do to the Warriors on Sunday night what we saw the dynastic Warriors do to so many teams for a half-decade: they messed around with them for a while to start the game, allowing the opposition to build up a lead and confidence — then they suffocated them.
The Warriors led by as many as 15 points in the first half. Klay Thompson looked 23 again, scoring 23 in the first two quarters. Andrew Wiggins looked like an impact wing. The ball was moving on offense, the Warriors were rotating on defense, and the San Francisco crowd was justly loving life.
Then the Nuggets decided they had enough of all of that.
Denver went on a 14-0 run to end the first half, tying the contest at the break.
Then, in the second half, they put another 14-0 run on the board.
Nikola Jokić controlled every facet of the game, posting an absurd stat line of 32 points, 16 rebounds, and 16 assists with four steals. Most impressively, I don’t think he jumped once.
And with Jamal Murray scoring an efficient 27 points, the Nuggets’ 1-2 punch took it to the Dubs on offense.
Defensively, the Nuggets smothered the Warriors from the end of the second quarter onwards. Denver was longer than the Warriors at every position, and the Nuggets’ size and physicality overwhelmed Golden State as the game progressed. The Nuggets made it toughest on possessions where the Dubs needed to score the most.
The Warriors’ 15-point lead turned into a Nuggets 15-point lead by the time Golden State coach Steve Kerr pulled his top players off the floor late in the fourth quarter.
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Yes, the defending champion Nuggets did what great teams do.
They did what the Clippers did to the Warriors on Feb. 14.
It doesn’t matter if you fall behind early when you’re a great team like Denver or the Clippers. You can afford to feel your opponent out to start a game.
But when the switch is flipped, it stays on.
The Clippers, who have been the West’s best for the last two months, waited until the fourth quarter of that Valentine’s Day game to exert their superiority over the Dubs.
The Nuggets attacked earlier, but the second half Sunday only hammered home the point.
The Warriors’ recent success has come against relative minnows. A win is a win, yes, but to compete for a title, you have to beat the best of the best.
And so far this season, the Warriors are 2-12 against the West’s four best teams (1-3 vs. the Thunder, 1-3 vs. the Clippers, 0-2 to the Timberwolves, 0-4 vs the Nuggets), and 3-17 against the top six teams (1-2 vs. the Pelicans, 1-3 vs. the Suns).
The last time the Warriors beat the Nuggets was Game 5 of the teams’ 2022 first-round playoff series.
The roles have reversed since then.
Now, are the Dubs playing better ball as of late? Absolutely. And that’s made them a surefire playoff team. (Or at least a play-in team.)
But as the Warriors know from one-time first-hand experience, this game has levels.
And the Warriors’ best this season is not good enough for that top level.