Warriors' Defense Exposed in Blowout Loss to Nuggets

Without Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors weren't supposed to beat the Denver Nuggets on Friday.

But they were supposed to put up much more of a fight.

The Nuggets shot 56.1 percent from the floor and 48.5 percent from three while blowing out the Warriors 129-104 in each team's first 2025 NBA Cup game. Golden State had no answers defensively.

Defense Exposed in Variety of Ways

Nikola Jokic played just 28 minutes, dominating Golden State with 26 points (12-of-15 shooting), nine assists and seven rebounds.

Put simply, the Nuggets probably could have scored 140-plus if they had played their starters more.

It's easy to make excuses for the Warriors. They've played three back-to-back already, and they've had to travel after all but one of their games. They are likely exhausted and a bit banged up, as Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green and Moses Moody were all listed as questionable before suiting up. Al Horford's absence didn't help matters either.

But the Nuggets dominating them in this fashion is concerning.

There simply wasn't enough resistance in the paint, as Jonas Valanciunas had a season-best 16 points (16 minutes) and Aaron Gordon had 18 points, including this highlight-reel dunk.

Jamal Murray was in a great rhythm all game, taking advantage of Golden State's lack of an elite on-ball defender. He poured in 23 points on just 12 field-goal attempts.

Where the Warriors Go from Here

That the Warriors have no answer for Jokic isn't surprising. Virtually nobody does. So they can and will bounce back to some extent.

But it hasn't been just the Denver games. Overall, the Warriors are just 16th in defensive rating.

They finished seventh last year with a similar roster, which begs the question: Is age catching up to them, or will they regress to the mean over the coming weeks?

They looked very engaged in 98-79 win over the Clippers, which wasn't that long ago. But outside of that game, there are reasons to be concerned.

Draymond Green can put a Band-Aid on a crack or two, but if the whole ship is sinking around him, there's nothing he can do.

The first thing they'll have to do is stop turning the ball over so much. That actually wasn't a major problem Friday (12 turnovers), but being eighth-worst in turnover rate has led to way too many transition points allowed.

Aside from that issue, which seems correctable as long as they lean more heavily into letting turnover-averse Jimmy Butler make most of the decisions with ball, the solutions aren't obvious. And the schedule is actually even more daunting for the next two weeks.

The Warriors play a six-game-in-nine-day road trip starting Tuesday that includes matchups with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, surging San Antonio Spurs (2x) and East playoff contenders in Orlando and Miami.

Getting Curry back soon will help, but with or without him, they have to be better defensively or else they could dig themselves an early-season hole that will be even harder to get out of with an aging core.