Warriors vs Nuggets Preview: Golden State Can Clinch A Playoff Spot With A Win Over Denver Tonight (Photo: ESPN.com)
Golden State Warriors (48-29) vs. Denver Nuggets (34-44)
Tip-off: Thursday, April 10th, 2014 – 7:30PM PDT
Location: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
Spread: Golden State (-12) meaning Warriors are 12 point favorites
TV: CSN Bay Area / TNT | Radio: KNBR 680 AM
Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors (by @BeeRyry)
Last Game / Streak:
DEN – Won 123-116 vs HOU in Houston, Won 1 game in a row
GSW – Won 130-102 vs Utah in Oakland, Won 2 games in a row
Probable Starting Lineups:
Warriors:
PG: Stephen Curry (23.9 PPG, 8.9 APG, 4.4 RPG)
SG: Klay Thompson (17.9 PPG, 2.4 APG, 3.1 RPG)
SF: Andre Iguodala (9.4 PPG, 4.3 APG, 4.9 RPG)
PF: Draymond Green (6.0 PPG, 1.8 APG, 4.9 RPG)
C: Andrew Bogut (7.6 PPG, 1.7 APG, 10.1 RPG)
HEAD COACH: Mark Jackson (48-29)
Nuggets:
PG: Ty Lawson (17.6 PPG, 8.8 APG, 3.5 RPG)
SG: Randy Foye (12.7 PPG, 3.3 APG, 2.8 RPG)
SF: Quincy Miller (4.9 PPG, 0.4 APG, 2.7 RPG)
PF: Kenneth Faried (13.4 PPG, 1.2 APG, 8.3 RPG)
C: Timothy Mozgov (9.1 PPG, 0.7 APG, 6.1 RPG)
HEAD COACH: Brian Shaw (34-44)
The Warriors with a win tonight can clinch a playoff berth:
#Warriors clinch playoff spot w/ win tonight because as luck would have it, DAL/PHX/MEM (the 3 below #GSW) all still have to play each other
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) April 10, 2014
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This is a little ironic since Golden State is playing the team they beat in the first round of last year’s playoffs. If the Warriors clinch, it would be the second straight season in which they have clinched a playoff spot, the first time since 1990-91 and 1991-92 that they have done it in two straight seasons.
“We’ve got to come out and try to push the tempo early,” Curry said this morning after Warriors’ shootaround, “Obviously, they played last night, so we understand what that’s like, but for us to start off the game like we have in the past couple (of games), get off to a good start — they’re a high octane offense, so if you allow them those four or five minutes of easy baskets and not putting up any effort on the defensive end, they can definitely make you pay.
“We have to avoid those lulls like we did the last time we played them at home.”
Nuggets head coach Shaw will make his return to his hometown Oakland tonight.
Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle:
“That’s the frustrating thing about even going into this offseason, looking forward to next season still having question marks as to what we really have,” Shaw told the Denver Post.
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Denver, which started 14-9, will miss the playoffs for the first time in a decade. But five players – Lawson, Kenneth Faried, Timofey Mozgov, Evan Fournier and Quincy Miller – are averaging career highs in points, and Shaw has kept his head up.
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Thanks to help from another Oakland guard, Kidd.
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The two have called and texted each other throughout the season, and are looking forward to sitting down and laughing about their challenging first seasons this summer.
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“We’ve had our share of ups and downs and rough stretches,” Shaw said. “So we’ve communicated back and forth. Just, ‘Hang in there,’ and ‘Nobody said this was going to be easy.’ We grew up together and both pulling for one another.”
Golden State will go for their third straight win tonight against Denver, while the Nuggets look to get their first road win in eight road games.
Randy Chambers of Sports Chat Place:
The Nuggets are trying their best to play spoiler, but have lost seven of their last 10 games. However, the Nuggets are coming off a 123-116 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. On the season, the Nuggets average 104.1 points on 44.8 percent shooting and allow 106.4 points on 45.6 percent shooting. The Nuggets have allowed 11 of their last 12 opponents to top 100 points, while Kenneth Faried is shooting 56.3 percent from the field in his last five games.
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The Warriors can get one step closer towards clinching a playoff berth with a win over the Nuggets. Golden State has won seven of its last 10 games. On the season, the Warriors average 103.6 points on 46.1 percent shooting and allow 98.8 points on 43.6 percent shooting. Klay Thompson is shooting 52.8 percent from three in his last five games and has scored above 20 points in three of his last four games. The Warriors have scored 100-plus points in seven of their last 10 games.
Tonight is also #SplashBrothers night at Oracle Arena, in which the first 10,000 fans get a SplashBrothers cheer card.
The last time the Warriors played Denver at home was January 15th and it was a 123-116 loss.
The Warriors are 17-7 since the All-Star break and sit a season-high 19 games over .500. The last time they were 20 games above the .500 mark was back in 1991-92 at 55-27. Golden State hasn’t won 49 games in a season since posting 50 victories in 1993-94.
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“We talked about finishing the season the right way,” said Warriors coach Mark Jackson. “These guys deserve a lot of credit for how focused they are. The way they came out tonight and collectively do the job was awesome.”
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Jackson’s squad is 26-13 at home and will play three of the next four games on the road to close out the regular season.
[NOTE: Poor Man’s Commish contributed to this report.]
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