It was learned earlier on Thursday that the Denver Nuggets may not have enough players to face the Golden State Warriors in an evening clash because of setbacks related to COVID-19 and injuries.
The NBA has now confirmed that the Warriors at Nuggets matchup has been postponed.
"The Nuggets do not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with the game against the Warriors," the Association said in a brief statement.
As Mike Singer reported for The Denver Post, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and two assistant coaches tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day. Denver's Bones Hyland, Jeff Green and Zeke Nnaji also entered the league's health and safety protocols, and injuries to four others forced the NBA's hand to the dismay of Golden State star forward Draymond Green, who ranted about the postponement via Twitter:
How do you continue to cancel games when you’ve implemented rules to prevent this from happening? Is that not a competitive advantage for other teams? The guys we didn’t have due to the protocol list played no role in Tuesdays loss? Pick a side but don’t straddle the fence.
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) December 30, 2021
Denver defeated Golden State 89-86 on Tuesday.
So when the game is rescheduled(which will probably take a day away from our “break”), we wil play them at full strength… But they got to sneak a win when we weren’t at full strength, only two days ago??? Let’s make it make some sense here.
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) December 30, 2021
Not to mention, this will more than likely add a back to back to our schedule, which is also advantage Denver.
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) December 30, 2021
Denver is next scheduled to play at the Houston Rockets on Saturday. Meanwhile, Golden State will prepare to face the Utah Jazz that same night.
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