After an excruciating loss on Saturday night at home to the Wizards, the Nuggets will be looking to bounce back this week as the schedule gets a lot tougher. First, they’ll travel to the bay on Monday night to take on the surging, red-hot Golden State Warriors.
The Dubs have won seven straight and 11 out of 12 games overall, losing just a single game since the trade deadline with Jimmy Butler. They’ve gone from a team that looked like they were near the end of an era and may miss the play-in tournament to a team that looks like a legitimate title contender.
Butler has changed the entire dynamic of the team on both ends and they’ve launched into the top six in the Western Conference. At the very least, they’re a team that nobody will want to play come playoff time.
Monday night’s matchup should be a great measuring stick for both teams; two teams with MVP-caliber superstars, championship pedigree and aspirations, and plenty of history against each other. As it stands, the Nuggets are the third seed in the West and the Warriors are the sixth, so we could very easily be looking at a first-round playoff matchup.
Steph Curry questionable with a back injury
But this game could be missing some shine as the injury report is littered with superstars. For the Warriors, the report is led by one Stephen Curry. Curry has been playing great lately and seems almost reinvigorated since the team acquired Butler, but he is listed as questionable for Monday night with a back injury.
There’s no reason to believe it’s anything too serious, but the Warriors have put a lot of wear and tear on Curry this season and now that they’ve somewhat solidified their playoff positioning, it wouldn’t be a shocker to see Golden State give their 37-year-old superstar some extra rest.
Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon all questionable
On the Nuggets side, they’ve got a lot of question marks as well. The team had a rough stretch, getting punked by the T-Wolves, barely sneaking past the shorthanded Lakers, and losing to the lowly Wizards. The Nuggets’ main players are tasked with heavy workloads and have been managing a very heavy burden.
It seems like fatigue is starting to set in and the team is wearing down a bit. This is exactly what happened last year as they prioritized seeding over rest and then ran out of gas in the playoffs. But perhaps, Michael Malone is starting to realize the error of his ways, and their Monday night injury report may be a reflection of that.
Nikola Jokic (elbow/ankle), Jamal Murray (ankle), and Aaron Gordon (calf) are all listed as questionable for Monday. I’m not saying these aren’t legitimate injuries, but they’ve been playing through these ailments recently, and have gone into most games listed as probable.
The questionable listing suggests that the team is taking a closer look at resting some of these guys and stealing some extra days off down this brutal stretch of the season. While it would make Monday night’s game less interesting to see Curry or any of the Nuggets’ stars missing in action, it may be in the best interest of both teams long-term.