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Holy hell, watching this series will be more fun than jumping into an olympic sized pool filled with an unreasonable amount of jelly.
Denver leads the league in scoring at 106.1 points per game while Golden State manages 101.2 points per outing, which is seventh in the league.
The Nuggets and Warriors love to really get up and down, playing at the second and fourth highest paces in the league respectively.
As touched on in a previous instalment, everything slows down in the playoffs.
Play is highly scouted, everything’s under the microscope and games often become slower, more methodical and more half court oriented.
It’ll be interesting to how (or if) these two care free run and gun teams are affected by this tendency.
The Warriors are best three point shooting team in the NBA, averaging a 40.3% from the land of plenty.
This is largely thanks to Steph Curry, who shoots a giddy 45.3% from three (0.2% more than he shoots overall!) and just made the most ever threes in a season.
His 272 threes beat out Ray Allen’s 269. Oh, and he did it with 53 less attempts.
Denver has really struggled to guard the perimeter this season, so the prolific shooting of Curry and co isn’t exactly music to Denver’s ears. Unless it’s truly horrendous music, a Katy Perry/Ke$ha/Skrillex mega mix perhaps.
David Lee’s movement on defence resembles that of a Queen’s Guard, leaving the rim protection duties almost entirely to Bogut. The problem is of course, that Bogut has only managed to play 32 games this season and has appeared far from 100% when he is out there.
Without Bogut, Ty Lawson and Denver’s slashers are unlikely to encounter too many problems on their way to the hoop.
Home court advantage is a particular big factor whenever Denver are involved, exacerbated by the thin air in the mile high city.
Denver are more comfortable in their own home that this guy and went 38-3 at home this season. They won more games at home than 12 other teams managed to win overall.
While Gallinari’s injury is certainly a blow for Denver, if there was ever a team that could handle losing a player, its the 10-deep Nuggets.
Spreading Gallo’s minutes over the rest of the team, especially to guys like Corey Brewer and Wilson Chandler, may not be so bad.
There is such a thing as having too many minute deserving players (just ask the Clippers) and the extra court time should allow Brewer and Chandler to settle into each game more and be even more effective.
Despite likely getting torched from beyond the arc, Denver’s interior defence and big man rotation will be superior to Golden State’s, which may be the Warriors undoing, especially if Bogut is out or hurting.
Denver in 6.
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