The Denver Nuggets faced a hot Golden State Warriors team who was coming off a seven-game winning streak that included wins over the New York Knicks (2X), the Sacramento Kings and Detroit Pistons.
The Nuggets just lost a heartbreaker in Denver to the Washington Wizards after leading at the half by 9. Monday night’s matchup with the Warriors unfortunately did not showcase Denver’s MVP candidate Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray. In fact, Denver sat Christian Braun also leaving Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook to handle the streaking Warriors. They didn’t disappoint.
The Nuggets outscored the Warriors in the first half, heading into the locker room up 62-50. The Nuggets defense was phenomenal, holding the Warriors to 8 of 33 from beyond the arc. The Warriors free throw stats were horrendous too, making 15 of 27 compared to Denver’s 14 of 18. The Nuggets outrebounded the Warriors 53 to 38 without Denver’s top rebounder on the court.
Both Westbrook and Porter Jr. accounted for 22 of Denver’s rebounds with Westbrook recording a triple double and Porter Jr. contributing 21 points in 41 minutes.
In the end the key to Denver’s success over the Warriors came down to Aaron Gordon who had a career night with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 38 points. Payton Watson was the Nuggets defensive player of the night with 4 blocked shots, 5 rebounds, and 13 points six of which came from two critical three-point shots. The Nuggets beat the Warriors 114-105 at Chase Center in San Francisco.
The Nuggets are in L.A. this week to face the Lakers (8 p.m. MST) and are expected to be at full strength before heading up to Portland to face the Trail Blazers on Friday at 8 p.m. MST.
In other news the Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars on Sunday night at Ball Arena in overtime. The Avs took an early one-goal lead but Dallas evened things up before the end of the first period. The Avs added two more in the second leading Dallas 3-1 heading into the third. Dallas managed to even things up to send the game into overtime with five minutes left in the third.
Defensemen Cale Makar, laced the defense splitting three defenders on his own, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime. The Avs win moved them closer to the number two spot in the Central Division just two points away from the Stars.
This week the Avs are on the road in Canada to face the Toronto Maple Leafs (Wed., Mar. 19, @ 5 p.m.), the Ottawa Senators (Thur., Mar., 20 @ 5 p.m.) and the Montreal Canadiens (Sat., Mar., 22 @ 5 p.m.) before returning next week to face the Detroit Red Wings at home.
The CSU Men’s basketball team, have won ten straight after defeating the San Jose St. Spartans last week to secure their spot in the NCAA tournament. Colorado State finished second in the Mountain West behind the New Mexico Lobos despite winning the Mountain West Tournament, defeating Boise State, Utah State, Nevada and then Boise State again for the Tournament win. This Friday, they will face Memphis in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
