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Warriors 1H -5 (-110), 1.5 units: The Warriors looked like a true juggernaut in games one and two of this series. Winning game one by 16 points and game two by 20, the Warriors shot an outrageous 53.5% from the field and 43.5% from beyond the arc in those contests. And it wasn’t a fluke.
Some aspects of sports are hard to quantify. For example:
- The way Grizzlies players seem to always win the loose-ball wars
- The way Giannis can explode in 2 fluid steps from the 3 point line for a dunk
- The way Luka lulls defenders to sleep and creates space
- The way Draymond Green reads offenses before they get a chance to run their play
We could go on, but you get the point. In this case, it’s the Warriors offensive chemistry that’s really tough to quantify, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything fake or temporary about it. In game two at the Chase Center, Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry combined for 31/52 from the field– a whopping 60%. The fluidity was awe-inspiring and Denver seemed to have NO answer for what they were seeing. The Nuggets aren’t built to withstand such offensive attacks (in truth, few teams are); they’re bigger, slower, and they can’t just switch and hang with the Warriors’ 3-headed monster. Only a handful of NBA teams could even be competitive with the Golden State offense when they’re functioning that seamlessly, and this feels like the spot where we could see a repeat performance.
The Nuggets, on the other hand, are walking into a classic trap. Off a hard-fought win at home to keep this series alive, Jokic and his supporting cast, who all had better performances in game four, might have some renewed hope. Normally that’s a positive thing, but I don’t think it will be tonight. Young teams, and the Nuggets are mostly very young, tend to let their guards down naturally once they get a win. If they do, expect a fired up Warriors offense, with Curry off his limited restriction, to put on a show early.
The Warriors defense uncharacteristically allowed a few too many easy buckets to Denver in game four; expect nothing of that sort tonight. I’m betting that Golden State comes out on fire and overwhelms Denver in the first half. I lean Warriors -9, too, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Curry had a HUGE scoring night. The table is set.
