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In the 18 months since winning the first championship in franchise history, the Denver Nuggets have lost three of the top eight players from that team, and one of the remaining stars can’t find his shine.
What’s steady is the play of superstar center Nikola Jokić. He’s a peerless offensive force, his name boldfaced in the Warriors’ scouting report as they prepare to face the Nuggets on Tuesday night in Denver.
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As if the 7-foot, 284-pound Serbian weren’t enough of a challenge, Golden State won’t have top interior defender Draymond Green. He was ruled out Tuesday morning with tightness in his left calf.
So, the Warriors (12-7) will be thinner than usual as they try to prevent Jokić from dominating the game. Kyle Anderson, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Kevon Looney – each three inches shorter and at least 35 pounds lighter than The Joker – should bring lunch, dinner, gauze and ice.
They’ve seen enough of Jokić to know what lies ahead.
“He's a nightmare down low on the block, on the elbow, rebounding the ball at 94 feet,” Anderson told reporters in Denver on Monday. “He could hit you with outlet passes that not many people in the league can make. He's a nightmare once he steps on the floor.”
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Denver (10-8) no longer has Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Bruce Brown or Jeff Green from its title team. Jamal Murray, once on the brink of being an All-Star, is having a subpar season. Jokić is shouldering quite the load.
Jokić is the only man in the league averaging a triple double, leading in rebounds (13.2 per game), second in assists (10.7) and fourth in scoring (29.6). He has the nerve to be second in 3-point shooting percentage at 50.8. Six weeks into the season, he’s already making his case for a fourth MVP award.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr historically has been somewhat willing to live with Joker’s scoring but wants his big men to do all they can to keep his incredible passing from eviscerating the defense.
“I guarded him a little bit last year,” Jackson-Davis said after practice. “But coach always says just to make it tough on him. But really, what we want to take away is his passing. Getting his assists, getting his teammates involved. We know he's going to score; he's taken a lot upon himself this year, especially, to be a scorer.”
This is that rare instance when three-against-one is more daunting for the three than the one.