Nuggets F Wilson Chandler tries to get a shot up over Golden State’s Klay Thompson. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
OAKLAND — Observations from the Nuggets’ 122-79 loss to Golden State on Monday afternoon at Oracle Arena.
Sticking to Wilson and Afflalo. While Ty Lawson is the Nuggets’ leading scorer, the bulk of the team’s scoring comes from the wing. Golden State knew that, and one off their top priorities was to remove wing scoring from the game. That meant getting to Arron Afflalo and Wilson Chandler early to not allow them to get going. And that task fell on the shoulders of Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green and Shaun Livingston. Their first order of business was to crowd both players, both good spot-up shooters, and make them shoot on the move.
Warriors defenders fought over screens. And they switched on a baseline back screen play the Nuggets like to run that is designed to get Chandler and Afflalo curling into the middle of the court ready to receive the ball in rhythm to score. So with that play all but removed from the game, it was up to them to freelance a little more within the offense and create on their own off the dribble. And that wasn’t working. Chandler and Afflalo combined to shoot 4-of-16 from the field, including 1-of-7 from the 3-point line. Both players not only were held well under their scoring averages, but Golden State held them well under their attempts per game averages as well by doing their work early, and deterring them from taking the shot if either of them caught the ball with intent to score.
Putting Nurkic in a bad spot. For the first time since he’s been a starter, Jusuf Nurkic let one of the bad habits of his early season seriously creep back into his game. Fouls. He fouled out in just 23 minutes of play. In his defense, four of them were as the help defender after the Nuggets individual or pick-and-roll defense broke down in some fashion. He picked up fouls at the rim on Klay Thompson, Brandon Rush and James Michael McAdoo. The Rush foul was a chop down, and his worst foul was on David Lee — again helping out — as he kind of ran through him with his body. Nurkic only picked up two fouls guarding his own man.
Why having playmakers matters. The most underplayed aspect of Golden State’s season has been its defense. The Warriors rank first in the NBA in field goal percentage allowed and third in 3-point percentage allowed. No team allows fewer points per 100 possessions than Golden State’s 96.7. The Warriors aren’t just scoring machines, they’re the collective Gary Payton of the league, locking down opposing offenses on a nightly basis. And when team defense is that good, you’re going to need players who can break down their defender, get into the lane and collapse a defense in order to create for themselves and others when the initial actions are taken away. The Nuggets only had (and, have) two such players: Ty Lawson and Jameer Nelson.
That duo was probing and slicing and flat-out forcing their way into the lane all day long, whether it was off screens or simply taking their defender off the dribble. Lawson and Nelson were a combined 14-for-26 from the field (53.8 percent), scoring 33 of the Nuggets’ 79 points. The rest of the team? 16-of-61 (26.2 percent). They also had 11 of the 17 assists. Because their skill set allows them to continue to find success when the offense breaks down or when defenders are playing them tight, Lawson and Nelson still produced. No other Nugget could.
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
