Streaking Golden State Warriors visit Denver to face Nuggets on national television

The Golden State Warriors have garnered enough interest in their chase of the NBA’s longest undefeated streak that tonight’s game will be aired nationally on ESPN. Five teams have started the season 14-0 in NBA history and the Warriors will look to tie the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and the 1993-94 Houston Rockets, led by Hakeem Olajuwon, as the only teams to start an NBA season 15-0, according to BasketballReference.com.

The Warriors will have their work cut out for them in Denver. That’s right, since 2003-04 the Nuggets have gone 17-4 against the Warriors in Denver. Will history be on Denver’s side tonight? Can the Nuggets be the team to stop the streaking Warriors?

The last time these two teams met on Nov. 6th in Oakland, the Warriors won the game 119-104. After giving up 74 first half points, the Nuggets made things interesting in the second half by outscoring Golden State 60-45. You can chalk some of that second half comeback up to the Warriors being on cruise control, but it was good to see the Nuggets play with pride. However, the Nuggets will need to play a near perfect game to win tonight.

Denver last played Nov. 20th at home against the Phoenix Suns. Head coach Michael Malone altered his starting lineup to include 20 year-old rookie Nikola Jokic in place of veteran J.J. Hickson. Jokic was coming off a fine performance against the San Antonio Spurs where he put up 23 points on 8-13 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals in 32 minutes. His points, rebounds, blocks and minutes played were all career highs.

Jokic came back down to earth in his first NBA start playing just 18 minutes against the Suns, scoring just 6 points on 2-6 shooting. That’s life as an NBA rookie. The move by Malone to insert Jokic into the starting lineup was bold, but also the correct decision. The Nuggets have been lacking length at the center position and Jokic gives the team that, plus he isn’t a duplicate to Kenneth Faried as Hickson can be – so it’ll be interesting to see if Malone sticks with Jokic for the foreseeable future as his starting center.

The Nuggets young starting lineup also includes rookie Emmanuel Mudiay and Gary Harris. The two combined for 46 points on 18-29 shooting (including 3-7 from deep and 7-9 at the foul line). Mudiay’s career high of 26 points came in a variety of ways and he played with aggression throughout the night, which was key.

Harris also set a new career high with his 20 points. If he can become a threat on the offensive end for the Nuggets, he will take a huge burden off of Mudiay and Danilo Gallinari and will help open up more options for the offense. Harris has been playing well this season in the expanded role Malone wanted to carve out for him. Both Harris and Mudiay will, obviously, have their work cut out for them with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

The Warriors have perfected small ball and Nuggets fans got the ultimate preview of things to come in that gut-wrenching 2013 playoff series that saw a 57-win season spoiled. Golden State has been off the charts this season and their ultimate lineup is putting up some eye-popping numbers.

HAS to be a misprint. Dubs’ Small Ball Five (Curry/Klay/Iguodala/Barnes/Green) averaging ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN points per 100 possessions

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) November 22, 2015

Warriors have only used that fivesome for 54 minutes, so it’s the ultimate Small Sample Size thing, but the number is still incomprehensible — Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) November 22, 2015

Again, tipoff tonight is at 6:00 p.m. MT.

Views you can use: 

-Gallinari averages 19.7 points against the Warriors in his career, that’s his highest point total against any team in the NBA.

-Curry averages 50.4 percent career 3-point shooting against the Nuggets, his second highest total against any Western Conference team – he only shoots better against the Clippers from deep at 50.6 percent … just 00.2 percentage points better.

Injury report: 

Nuggets: Jusuf Nurkic is out (knee rehab) Wilson Chandler is out (hip), Kenneth Faried is questionable (left ankle sprain), Joffrey Lauvergne is out (lower back strain).

Warriors: Kevon Looney is out (hip).