Warriors at Nuggets
The Golden State Warriors have been tested in each of their last two games and came out on top, keeping their perfect season alive. The Warriors will try to pass the 1957-58 Boston Celtics for the most consecutive wins to start a season by a defending champ and match the all-time record shared by the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitols when they go for No. 15 at the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
"It's a goal that's right here and now and it's something that we want to experience," Golden State star Stephen Curry told reporters. "It'd be a huge accomplishment because doing something that hasn't been done in the history of the league is special.” Other goals – like the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 regular-season wins and a second straight championship – exist further down the road for the Warriors, who deployed their small-ball lineup in the fourth quarter of back-to-back games against the Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls this week to turn deficits into wins. The Nuggets had some trouble with another team that likes to go small when they squandered a 17-point lead in a 114-107 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Friday. Denver’s struggles to defend the 3-point line could also become a problem against the Warriors.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (14-0): Golden State went with Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala down the stretch in each of the last two games and outscored the Bulls by 14 points in the final six minutes after that unit scored on every possession in the final 5:41 on Thursday. “Our guys know how to win. It’s pretty impressive,” interim coach Luke Walton told reporters. Barnes put together two of his best games of the season in the last two, totaling 41 points and 16 rebounds while going 6-of-11 from 3-point range.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (6-7): Denver sits 29th in the league in 3-point defense, allowing opponents to go off at 38.8 percent from beyond the arc, and let the Suns connected on 15-of-27. "Our inability to guard the 3-point line is a joke," Nuggets coach Mike Malone told reporters. "We're one of the worst teams in the NBA in guarding the 3-point line." That figures to be an even bigger problem against the Warriors, who lead the NBA with a 40.9 3-point percentage.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors went 17-of-37 from 3-point range in a 119-104 home win over the Nuggets on Nov. 6.
2. Denver rookie PG Emmanuel Mudiay scored a season-high 26 points on Friday.
3. Curry is averaging 36.8 points on 50.4 percent shooting in the last five games.