The Denver Nuggets get an opportunity to complete a regular-season sweep of a potential first-round playoff opponent when they visit the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco on Friday night.
In the last of three matchups against Golden State (45-31) this season, the Nuggets (47-30) will enjoy the advantage of having had Thursday off, while the Warriors battled to the wire for a 123-116 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Denver has prevailed in the two earlier head-to-heads with Golden State. The Nuggets posted a 119-115 win at home in December behind a 38-point night from Nikola Jokic and a 114-105 victory in San Francisco last month without the three-time NBA MVP and Jamal Murray.
The latter loss was one of just five in 25 games the Warriors have incurred since acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat in February. Butler had 23 points in the defeat.
Denver was 44-25 and in contention for the No. 2 playoff seeding in the West after that visit to San Francisco. But the Nuggets have since gone just 3-5 to fall three games behind the Houston Rockets, currently residing in the second spot, with just five games left.
The third-place Nuggets, who currently lead the fifth-place Warriors by just 1 1/2 games, find themselves closer to play-in status than to the No. 2 seeding. A loss to the Warriors would allow Golden State to tie Denver in the loss column, although the Nuggets would retain the tie-breaker advantage.
Denver has no soft spots the rest of the way, finishing with home games against the Indiana Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies, and on the road against Golden State, the Sacramento Kings and Rockets.
Exactly who will suit up for Denver against the Warriors could be a game-time decision.
Murray, who has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury, is among three Nuggets listed as questionable for the game. Aaron Gordon, who torched Golden State for 38 points in the last meeting, joins Jokic and two others who are probable.
It could lead to another opportunity for second-year guard Jalen Pickett, who recorded a triple-double in Denver’s most recent game, a 113-106 home loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
“Every chance he’s gotten to play this year, every time he goes out there, he plays well, and he’s proven himself to be trustworthy,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said of Pickett. “He’s not going to wow you, he’s not going to do anything that’s going to be on a highlight necessarily, but he’s just really steady, really solid.”
The Warriors got a similar performance from their second-year guard, Brandin Podziemski, in Thursday’s win over the Lakers. The left-hander buried eight 3-pointers while contributing 28 points, eight rebounds and six assists to the win.
While much of the focus of late has been on Butler, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, Warriors coach Steve Kerr credits a team effort for his team’s recent run up the standings.
“Every game is going to be different,” Kerr said. “Every game we just have to figure out what we need to do to win. Figure it out and do it. What I’m really enjoying right now is the collective sense of: Just win; nothing else matters.”
Kerr announced after Thursday’s victory that despite working Butler and Podziemski for 36 minutes apiece, and Curry and Green 34 minutes each in Los Angeles, all hands would be on deck for the second night of the back-to-back.
