Denver Nuggets need to turn back the clock to take down Golden State Warriors

The Nuggets take on the Golden State Warriors tonight in a what has been a lopsided matchup all season long. The Nuggets lost their first two games to the Warriors 119-104 and 118-105 before losing a heart-breaker 111-108 in overtime to start off 2016 in a game where Steph Curry saw only 14 minutes due to injury.

Warriors versatile big man Draymond Green won’t play tonight (rest), so that gives the Nuggets some hope, but the best model for the Nuggets to follow to get an unlikely win over the planet’s best basketball team is a disappointing Nuggets team from two decades ago.

Warriors will rest Draymond Green tonight, acc’d to coach Luke Walton.

— Nate Timmons (@NateTimmonsBSN) January 13, 2016

In the 1995-96 season, the Denver Nuggets were coming off of a .500 season and a disappointing sweep in the first round of the playoffs at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs. Nuggets’ legend Dan Issel had resigned as head coach the season before, so Bernie Bickerstaff was beginning his first full season at the helm of the Nuggets and it got off to a rocky (not the Super Mascot) start. Denver lost their first six games of the season and eight of their first nine before stringing together some wins to gain back some ground. This would be Dikembe Mutombo‘s last season in a Nuggets uniform and the magic of the first round victor over George Karl‘s Milwaukee Bucks a few seasons earlier was fading quickly.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Chicago Bulls were eager to get back to their championship winning ways now that Michael Jordan had returned from his brief foray into minor league baseball. Coming off of two early playoff exits, the Bulls were beginning an historic regular season run to set the NBA record for regular season wins before winning the first of their two “threepeats” under Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan.

It was February 4, 1996 and the Bulls entered the game on an 18 game winning streak, leaving them with a 41-3 record. The Nuggets on the other hand, had sputtered out of the gates to an 18-26 record, including only two wins in their previous nine games. Despite the disparity in trajectories, the Nuggets were able to pull off the upset which was the lone bright spot in an otherwise dismal season. I’ll detail the keys to the unlikely 105-99 Nuggets victory and who may be able to fill those shoes tonight for Denver to avoid a season sweep by the Golden State Warriors.

Key #1: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

He didn’t outscore Jordan, but the artist formerly known as Chris Jackson poured in 32 points on 13-27 shooting, including 4-10 from the 3-point line in order to keep pace with the GOAT’s game-high 39 points. Abdul-Rauf was always known as a sharpshooter, but he was able to outperform his season averages (43 percent from the field, 39 percent from three) against the Bulls to lead the Nuggets to victory.

The obvious choice to fill this role is Danilo Gallinari, who has been playing well since his return from injury. An efficient scoring night from Gallo would go a long way towards giving the Nuggets a chance in tonight’s game. Some other possibilities to lead the way offensively are Will Barton and Randy Foye, who both have the ability to get hot for stretches and also newcomer Sean Kilpatrick, whose best quality is his outside shooting.

Key #2: A Fast Start

The 1996 Nuggets came out of the gate with a 34-20 lead after the first quarter and increased that lead to 68-43 at halftime. That cushion helped them to absorb the inevitable run by the Bulls that knocked the Nuggets lead down to two entering the fourth quarter with a 84-82 score.

The Warriors are known for their fast starts and have certainly kept to that script in each of their games against the Nuggets this year, so it will take a mighty effort, both offensively and defensively in order to match their 1996 counterparts in that aspect. One glimmer of hope is that it will take Golden State a while to adjust to life without Draymond Green. The Nuggets boast a stable of big men themselves, as detailed by BSN’s Harrison Wind, with Jusuf Nurkic back in the lineup and could potentially take advantage of Green’s absence early on.

Key #3: The House of Mutombo

The Nuggets big man took only four shots in the game, but may have been an even more important key to victory than Abdul-Rauf. Deke turned in a vintage performance as he was 2-4 from the field, but hit all six of his free throw attempts, hauled in 17 rebounds and swatted five shots, making things tough for Chicago on the interior.

There may come a day, even at some point this season, when we get to see Jusuf Nurkic put up these kinds of numbers, but it will likely take a combination of Nurkic, Kenneth Faried and Nikola Jokic to match Mutombo’s contributions in the 1996 game. The Bosnian Beast certainly provides the rim protection and rebounding of Mutombo, but his minute’s restriction and lack of conditioning will limit his overall effect, and he certainly won’t see the game-high 47 minutes that Dikembe saw.

In fact, we would be fortunate for Nurkic to see half of that number tonight. That means Faried and Jokic (and maybe Lauvergne) will have to contribute heavily on the glass and defensively and it would be icing on the cake if the Nuggets bigs could knock down all of their free throws tonight as well.

Key #4: Team Contributions

In 1996, the Nuggets only had seven players play more than six minutes against the bulls and all seven contributed to the win. Antonio McDyess scored 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds, Dale Ellis scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting, LaPhonso Ellis came off of the bench to add 15 points and two blocks, Bryant Stitch contributed across the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block and even Don MacLean (the basketball player, not the singer of “American Pie”) contributed seven points in his 16 minutes on the court.

This current Nuggets will certainly not tighten up the rotation as there are just too many players who need the minutes right now, but the point remains that every Nugget that does see the court tonight will need to contribute positively in order to pull off the upset. Nice games from Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris, Will Barton and Darrell Arthur, to go along with those mentioned above, will be necessary to get a win.

Key #5: Limit the Damage

Michael Jordan was his usual self, piling up 39 points on 13-29 shooting, 4-7 from three and 9-11 from the line. He added three rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block, so he had his fingerprints all over the game, as per usual. The key to victory was that Denver was able to limit the contributions of the rest of the Bulls roster.

The only other two players to attempt more than 10 shots were Bill Wennington (9-21) and Scottie Pippen (4-15), who both shot well below their season averages of 49 percent and 46 percent, respectively. No other Bulls player scored more than six points in the game despite a bench that included prolific scorers like Toni Kukoc and Steve Kerr.

The Warriors have a number of players who can score 20 points on a given night, so making it tough on all of the Golden State players not named Stephen Curry needs to be a priority for the Nuggets defensively. Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala (cue: Kylo Ren screaming “Traitor!!”), and of course, Klay Thompson all have the ability to take over a game, so the Nuggets can’t let any of them get easy shots as they worry about the effortless scoring of Curry. Even former Nugget Ian Clark was able to add 15 points for the Warriors in the January 2nd game, so those are the types of players that will be key to stopping in tonight’s game.

Game Notes:

• Jameer Nelson is listed as probable with his hip flexor strain. The Warriors have James Michael-McAdoo and Leandro Barbosa listed as doubtful and the aforementioned report indicates that Draymond Green will be rested for tonight’s game as well.
• Including tonight, Golden State will play four of their next five games on the road.
• The Nuggets are in game two of a season long eight game home stand.
• Pay attention to the match up between Nurkic and Bogut when they’re on the floor at the same time — both players love a physical contest.

Denver Sidekicks

Pay attention to the home crowd tonight. There were signs of life from the Nuggets fans against Charlotte, despite the low attendance numbers, but with superstar players come superstar followers who will try to drown out the cheers of the home crowd.

Undeterred by the competing NFL Playoffs, low attendance and even the Pepsi Center staff, who threatened to take away their signs, the Denver Sidekicks kicked off their campaign to bring life back to the Pepsi Center on Sunday night. The Sidekicks were able to provide discounted tickets in the lower level and are currently planning the details for their next outing in February.

If you’re interested in helping to take back the Pepsi Center with a fun and energetic group, while attending a game with a discounted ticket, make sure to follow the Denver Sidekicks on Twitter:

Some shots from tonight’s win, and #sidekicks outing number one! #TakeBackDenver #ItsANewDay pic.twitter.com/HQA5Ywurij

— The Denver Sidekicks (@denversidekicks) January 11, 2016