The Strength in Numbers Warriors are back, and they’ve made a clear statement to start this season:
This team is a title contender once again.
Yes, there’s a long way to go this season — we’re roughly one-tenth of the way through the campaign — but you see it, too.
Barring injury, the Warriors look like a lock to make the playoffs (remember, that was no guarantee last season) and win more than they did last campaign.
These Warriors are deep, smart, led by an MVP-caliber player, and back in the mix.
And on Wednesday, they can prove they’re more than a contender when they play a team that’s a true class above — a bonafide title favorite.
I rolled my eyes when Nuggets coach Michael Malone said his team would repeat as champions moments after winning the title this past summer.
If you did the same, I hope you rolled them back in time to watch this season’s start.
These Nugs are not messing around. They look great.
After all, they are deep and led by an MVP-caliber player.
The season just started, but Wednesday’s Warriors-Nuggets matchup in Denver could prove informative to more than just the regular season.
It’s too early to say that this is a preview of the Western Conference Finals — it won’t be a strength vs. strength matchup. Denver will be without star guard Jamal Murray, who will miss the next few weeks with a hamstring injury, while the Warriors will be playing their eighth game in their eighth different city.
But if the Warriors can win this game, it would tell the rest of the NBA that such a matchup is a distinct possibility — if not a certainty — down the line.
Winning the game will be anything but easy, though.
The Warriors’ bugaboo is opposing big men. Golden State has two players who can play above the rim — one is 6-foot-7, the other is a generous 6-foot-2. The lack of verticality has been a problem against some of the league’s longest, springiest players.
But Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is neither long nor springy. No one would ever call his game “athletic.”
It is, however, the best.
And if the Warriors’ most prominent issue is simply size, and not the ability to play above the rim, then the Warriors are in for a world of hurt on Wednesday.
Jokic is already a two-time MVP. He should have won a third straight award last year, but historical narratives undermined his candidacy. It was thought you couldn’t add a player who had not won a title to the uber-elite club of three-time MVP winners.
So Jokic went out and won a title. He’ll likely win that third MVP this spring. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him jump.
The man is a singular force of basketball competency operating at his highest level, and the Western Conference — just like the Nuggets offense — runs through him.
Unlike James Harden or Luka Doncic, Jokic’s success is fundamental to his team’s success.
Stop Jokic, and you stop the Nuggets. Fail to slow the big man down, and you’ll chase him and his teammates all night.
And while Draymond Green — all 6-foot-6 of him — has been successful against Jokic in the past, the Warriors haven’t faced this version of the Serbian Hoss.
This guy is on a different level than perhaps any player in the history of the NBA.
So beat him — and Denver — and the confidence gained could carry for months.
The Warriors have plenty of reason to be confident going into Denver. So far this season, they have executed their big-picture game plan.
Two seasons ago, when they won the title, the Warriors started the campaign with 16 wins by Thanksgiving, 27 wins on Christmas, and 31 wins by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
In short, the Dubs built up a nice pile of wins to start the season and coasted down the stretch.
Last year, the Warriors tried the opposite technique — a slow start followed by a frantic finish to merely make the playoffs.
You can guess which direction they wanted to go this season.
For a veteran team like the Warriors, putting as many wins in the bag as possible as early as possible is simply pragmatic. Older players need their cushions — their ligaments and muscles cannot be trusted not to stretch beyond comfort as the season progresses.
The same truth should apply to statement wins, too.
But if there is, indeed, a quota of wins over quality opponents that must be hit before the spring, isn’t it better to meet it as early as possible?
The Western Conference has one true elite team. The Celtics and Bucks in the East qualify, too.
Golden State won’t play those two teams, respectively, until Dec. 19 and Jan. 13.
Maybe the Warriors are the NBA’s fourth elite team. Maybe not.
We won’t know until we see Golden State play one. We can’t put the Dubs in that category until they beat one.
And doesn’t that make Wednesday’s matchup in Denver the biggest game of the early season?
