Warriors at Nuggets
The Golden State Warriors’ latest winning streak is up to seven games, and they own the best record in NBA history through 37 contests. One team the Warriors have had some recent trouble against is the Denver Nuggets, who host Golden State on Wednesday.
The Warriors nearly had their record home winning streak come to an end on Jan. 2, when the Nuggets recovered from a 26-point deficit to force overtime before falling 111-108. Golden State star Stephen Curry left that game early with a recurring shin injury but Draymond Green put up 29 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists, and Klay Thompson’s finger roll late in overtime helped seal the victory. Curry has since made a more-or-less healthy return to the lineup while playing through some pain and scored 31 points in a win over Miami on Monday. Denver locked down on the defensive end of late and held its last three opponents to an average of 85.7 points while grabbing a pair of wins.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (36-2): Curry recorded a negative plus-minus for the first time all season in Monday’s win, but Golden State was still able to pull out a win thanks to a solid effort from the reserves. “Everybody came in ready to play,” Curry told reporters. “The starters played well, but we didn’t sustain it. (The reserves) came in, took control of the game and got us to the finish line.” One of those reserves was small forward Harrison Barnes, who is still making his way back from an ankle injury and contributed 12 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes on Monday.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (14-24): Denver is also working a player back in after a lengthy absence due to an ankle injury, and rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay collected 11 points and six assists in a win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday in his first game back. “It felt good," Mudiay told reporters after his first game in nearly a month. "I came back and played. That's the main thing - I just wanted to get out there again and see how I felt, and I felt pretty good." Jameer Nelson started at point guard in the Jan. 2 meeting and recorded 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Green is averaging 18.2 points on 60.7 percent shooting in six games this month.
2. Nuggets F Kenneth Faried sat out the last two games following the birth of his daughter and is day-to-day.
3. Golden State took each of the first three meetings this season and four in a row overall.