The Denver Nuggets played their 3rd game since returning from the All-Star break and they played it against the Golden State Warriors who are currently sitting at 10th spot in the Western Conference. The game took place at The Chase Center in San Francisco, and despite the Nuggets being on the road in this game they easily took care of the Golden State Warriors as they dominated the Warriors with a final score of 119 to 103 ultimately winning by 16 points. One of the few negatives in this game for the Nuggets was that Klay Thompson had 24 points in the first half. However, the Denver Nuggets perimeter defence quickly figured him out as he was held to 0 points in the second half. Overall, this win was an all-around well-earned one as it showcased yet another remarkable effort by Nikola Jokic. The Joker has been putting up video game numbers since returning after his recent All-Star nod and this game was no exception. Jokic scored 32 points and had 16 rebounds and 16 assists. These stats are impressive alone but it also marks his 3rd straight game with a triple-double not to mention the fact that Jokic had 4 steals and shot 100 percent from the free-throw line in his 37 minutes of basketball. Despite these incredible stats, Jokic’s performance was not the only positive of the night for the Nuggets as Jamal Murray came back after taking the night off against the Trailblazers with possible Tibia Inflammation. In his return, the Canadian scored 27 points and had 4 assists and 3 rebounds in 36 minutes of playtime.

However, basketball is a game of good and bad and for this game, it was not all sunshine and rainbows as Michael Porter Jr’s performance had a relatively big decline in comparison to his last 2 previous performances he had before this game. However, if you were going to pick one game to have an off-day today was the game to do it because Power Forward Aaron Gordan stepped up big. Air Gordan had 17 points and 6 rebounds in the win. Another negative point in this game was that The Nuggets were trailing in the first quarter by 6 points and were once trailing in the game 56-40 in the second half but a late surge by Jamal Murray got them back in their groove as they ended up tied at halftime. The second half however was a completely different story as the Nuggets finished the game strong as the Nuggets shot 48.9 field goal percentage compared to the Warriors’ 43.2. This was not the only glaring difference that boosted the Nuggets to a win. The Nuggets defenders like Christian Braun and Zeke Nnaji who came off the bench were vital in motivating the team while the star players were off. Coach Michael Malone also attributed credit to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as KCP held one of the best three-point shooters on the planet Stephen Curry to only shoot 10 three-point shots and made him only make 1 of them. The Nuggets also held the Warriors to only 16 points in the 4th quarter compared to the 28 points they scored. This was important in the standings as with this win the Nuggets moved up from 4th place to 3rd place in the Western Conference standings as they passed the Las Angeles Clippers. The Clippers also played Sunday and they lost by 16 to the Sacramento Kings. With this win the Denver Nuggets now have a 39-19 record and are 17-14 on the road.

During the Post Game Interview with Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, he gave nothing but positive feedback as he said “It’s not just one guy our guys were just locked in, and to start off 3-0 post All-Star Break I couldn’t be more proud of our group”. With this in mind, the Nuggets hope to embody their coaches’ mentality as they look to continue this hot streak as they play another set of back-to-back games on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings and Thursday against the Miami Heat. These games are both at home so The Nuggets better use it as an advantage due to the fact of their home record and altitude. These next few games are important especially if we take a look at the standings as of right now The Nuggets are only a game and a half back from second on the positive. If you take a look on the flip side the West is the closest it’s ever been with The Clippers, Kings and Suns only a few games behind them and are slowly creeping up. These 2 wins are much needed ones and they would definitely be crucial to help the Nuggets keep up the momentum and climb up the standings to be one of the key contenders in the West.