How the Nuggets slowed Steph Curry and the Warriors

You can’t stop Steph Curry. You can only hope to contain him. Just slow him down. Try and make life difficult on him.

That’s what the undermanned Nuggets did in Golden State.

“We were just locked into the game plan. Locked into tendencies,” said Will Bartons who’s 14 first-quarter points helped set the tone Tuesday. “Guys were flying around, hustling. He also missed some shots.”

Denver held Curry to 23 points on 6-16 shooting (5-14 from 3-point range) as the Nuggets shocked the Warriors who came into their meeting with Denver with the best record in the NBA. The Nuggets held Curry scoreless in the first quarter and to just two points on 1-6 shooting in the first half. It was Curry’s lowest-scoring first half since Jan. 22, 2021 vs. Minnesota last season. Curry tallied 15 of his 23 in the fourth, but the Nuggets were able to hold off a Warriors’ comeback to get back above .500 and to 17-16 on the season.

“Steph is one of the greatest to ever do it,” Michael Malone said after the Nuggets’ 89-86 win. “Yes, you give Austin, Facu, Davon, Will, different guys credit. But it’s five guys really defending as one. We went over some things at shootaround today, some things that we normally don’t do. But as I told our players, when you’re guarding against a great team and a great player, you have to alter your defense. You can’t play him with the regular defense that we use most nights. For three quarters, it worked fairly well.”

For most of Tuesday night, Denver played excellent defense. Simply put, it was one of the most impressive defensive games I’ve watched the Nuggets play under Michael Malone. He had his players absolutely prepared for what was coming and the Nuggets executed.

Denver brought it from the opening tip. Facu Campazzo got into Curry within the first minute of the first quarter.

You’re never going to slow Curry down with just one defender. He has to see multiple bodies and more than just a couple defensive looks. Austin Rivers, who spent the most time on Curry, Nikola Jokic, and Facu Campazzo all made great team defensive plays during this sequence.

This was one of Denver’s best defensive possessions of the night. Pay attention to the flawless three-way switch on the right wing between three fairly inexperienced players: Rookie Bones Hyland, Zeke Nnaji and Davon Reed.

The Warriors didn’t gain a single advantage off the action.

Here’s why the Nuggets are going to try and keep Davon Reed past his second 10-day contract which expired Tuesday. I don’t think he’s a lockdown defender that you can put on an island against the league’s top scorers, but he makes things happen. Reed gets a ton of steals, partly thanks to his seven-foot wingspan, but also because he’s always in the right place at the right time. He’s got a nose for the ball.

Reed has 11 steals in just 154 minutes this season. That’s the same amount as Austin Rivers has (in 441 minutes) and PJ Dozier had (in 340 minutes) before his season-ending injury.

Aside from a couple of hiccups, Zeke Nnaji played a great defensive game. Here he’s able to switch onto Curry off the ball, close-out to him at the 3-point line, and force the ball baseline. JaMychal Green offers timely help-side defense too.

Here’s Nnaji again. He switches out onto Curry and holds his own, just as he did vs. Trae Young on a couple of occasions a few games back vs. Atlanta. Not many 6-11 big men can do this. It’s one of Nnaji’s most intriguing qualities.

Part of what makes Curry so dangerous in the half-court is that he never stops moving. Michael Porter Jr. actually mentioned that the shape Curry’s in is one thing that stuck out during his offseason workouts with him this past summer.

This was a great effort by Rivers to stay attached.

Nnaji gets matched up on Curry in transition early in the fourth and again stays in front. He forces Curry to give it up and this defensive possession ends in another steal by Reed.

JaMychal Green also gave Denver really good minutes Tuesday. Here, he denies Curry off the ball after a switch and doesn’t allow him to get it back.

Rivers does a great job staying attached to Curry once again here.

This wasn’t a sexy victory by Denver, but it was a complete stunner that the Warriors couldn’t have seen coming. The Nuggets were obviously without Jamal Murray and Porter. Denver was also missing starters Monte Morris and Aaron Gordon, who would have been one of their top defensive options on Curry.

Golden State was without Draymond Green, who more often than not is the fulcrum of the Warrior’s fourth-ranked offense. Still, Denver held the Warriors to 42.3% shooting from the field, 31.3% (10-32) from 3-point range, and forced Golden State into 17 turnovers. Curry had six giveaways himself.

The Nuggets will gladly accept any victory right now.

“You cannot control whatever’s happening in the NBA, even in the world, so we’re going to take every win and try to be the best as possible in this moment,” said Jokic who finished with 22 points, 18 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and had the game-winning block on Jonathan Kuminga in the final seconds of regulation. “I think every team is struggling with injuries, COVID, whatever it is. I think in this moment, the team who believes the most and who has a lot of energy is going to win the most games.”

Nikola Jokic has 3 game-winning blocks in 2021. pic.twitter.com/mCWtPKQ5y2

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) December 29, 2021

The Nuggets held that sacred belief from the opening moments of Tuesday’s win. It led to one of the top defensive performances of the Jokic Era. Will it carry over to Thursday when this same Warriors team visits Denver? We’ll see.

But the Nuggets are back above .500 again. They’re sitting in the 5th spot in the West. That’s an accomplishment for all the obstacles Denver has already maneuvered through this season. The Nuggets have held steady through injuries and a road-heavy schedule that’s only seen them play 14 home games, the fewest of any Western Conference team.

Maybe, a win like this is a momentum-builder. Maybe, this is the type of victory that forces these Nuggets to look each other in the eyes and build some level of belief. Maybe, Denver’s finally going to start rolling.

“Our message right now is just to find ways to win,” Barton said. “We know we’ve been going through a tough time. Any type of victory we can get, whether it’s pretty, ugly, we’ll take it. We know we’re just a couple plays away from going on a big win streak.”