Warriors hope for more of same against Nuggets
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors hope to open 2017 the same way they waltzed through the last two calendar years when they host the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.
En route to a championship in 2015, a runner-up finish last June and the best record in the NBA at Sunday's flip of the calendar, the Warriors recorded identical 72-12 marks the last two calendar years.
The 144 wins were seven more than any other team had ever registered in consecutive years, topping the previous mark set by the Chicago Bulls in 1996 and '97.
The Warriors rebounded from an opening night loss to the visiting San Antonio Spurs to win 14 of their next 15 home games in November and December while securing the best record in the NBA at 29-5 entering 2017.
One of those 29 wins came at Denver on Nov. 10, a 24-point victory that was one of 11 Golden State has recorded by at least 20 points this season.
The Warriors have beaten the Nuggets five straight times dating back to March 13, 2015.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr found himself cautioning his team -- and fans -- on Friday night that nothing is automatic in the NBA.
"I feel like there is kind of an expectation for us to win from our players and from everybody," he said after an unspectacular 108-99 home win over the Dallas Mavericks. "It can take the life and the joy out of it. I want to make sure that our players are still out there having fun and that our fans are also not taking anything for granted."
The Nuggets (14-19) will take the court Monday having won five of eight to creep into playoff contention in the Western Conference. It's early, but it's a far cry from where the Nuggets were a year ago, when they had lost seven of eight to bury themselves in the West by the time they visited Golden State on Jan. 2.
Denver is coming off one of its most disappointing games of the season in a 124-122 home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.
Interestingly, Nuggets coach Michael Malone, a former Warriors assistant, walked away from the defeat delivering basically the same message as Kerr did after his win: There are no free passes in the NBA.
"When you win a few games, you start to feel pretty good about yourself and you forget why you've been winning games," he told reporters after the game. "We're not a team that can just show up."
One reason for the Nuggets' improved play of late has been the return of Gary Harris. Since re-entering the starting lineup following an injury, he's scored in double figures in seven of eight games, including 17 apiece in the last two.
Harris' matchup Monday will not be an easy one. He figures to draw Warriors defensive ace Klay Thompson, one of the league's best two-way guards who has scored 20 or more in three straight games.
Thompson outscored Harris 19-11 in the November meeting in Denver.
