Nikola Jokic and Gary Harris show out, Klay Thompson’s shooting woes continue in Nuggets win

  The Nuggets remain undefeated after a close 100-98 win Sunday night against the Golden State Warriors. Torrey Craig started the game in place of an injured Will Barton. He was given the difficult task of guarding Kevin Durant who in the previous game, dropped an impressive 38 points in a Warrior’s win against the Utah Jazz. Nikola Jokic recorded 23 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists on 50% shooting, coming off a historic night the previous game, recording a 30 point triple double with 0 turnovers and perfect shooting.

The Nuggets are looking to improve their defence this season and it is clear there are visible improvements from the previous one. They held Kevin Durant to a FG% of 37, he went 0-4 from 3-point land along with 4 turnovers. Klay Thompson continues to struggle from 3 only going 1-6 and turned the ball over 3 times, part of the team’s 18 total turnovers really frustrating Coach Steve Kerr from the sidelines. Klay Thompson looks to warm up after making only 2 threes in 3 games.

One half of the Murray/Harris backcourt had a great night, the other struggled terribly. Gary Harris lead the Nugget’s offence on 55% percent shooting including 2 steals and a block. As Harris looks to continue heating up going forward, Jamal Murray struggled, he had 3 points and 0 field goals in 26 minutes. He blew a relatively easy lay up late in the fourth quarter. Luckily for the Nuggets, Paul Millsap was there to secure the offensive rebound. Even though the Nuggets had a terrible free throw shooting night making 24 shots out of 42 attempts, they still managed to win the game.

In the final possession of the game, Denver was up by two with 7.7 seconds left on the shot clock. As Draymond Green quickly in bounded the ball to Stephen Curry after a made free throw, Curry dashes up the court and finds centre Damian Jones wide open under the basket. Juancho Hernangomez realizes the big man is going up and switches off his man, he perfectly times the block from behind. As the ball falls to Gary Harris, time expires, it’s a Denver Nuggets win.

After a nail-biter Sunday night, these teams will meet 2 more times this season, the next meeting will be held Tuesday, January 15 9:00 Pm eastern time at the Pepsi Center in Colorado’s capital. The Warriors will look to bounce back Monday night against Devin Booker’s Phoenix Suns. As for the Nuggets, they hope to remain undefeated at home against the Sacramento Kings Tuesday, October 23 at 9:00 Pm eastern time.