The Denver Nuggets hope to accomplish what the Golden State Warriors did two days earlier when the recent NBA champions go head-to-head in another duel of superstars Thursday night in San Francisco.
The Warriors won their opener against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. The Thursday contest is the Nuggets’ opener.
Getting 31 points from Jimmy Butler and a productive start from Jonathan Kuminga, the Warriors were able to overcome Luka Doncic’s 43-point explosion for a 119-109 over the Lakers.
On a night when the Lakers were missing injured LeBron James, Kuminga was the surprise element, bombing in a career-best-tying four 3-pointers during a 17-point contribution.
Kuminga, a late-summer re-signing with Golden State after a long stalemate as a restricted free agent, was starting in place of Moses Moody, who is sitting out the start of the season with a strained left calf.
Kuminga, 23, accumulated nine rebounds and six assists vs. the Lakers.
“He had six assists? See, this is what I’m talking about,” Butler said. “Wow. Wow. I think we’re going to be really good if he can pull off 17, nine and six.”
While the Warriors were on the NBA’s two-game, opening-night card, the Nuggets joined the Indiana Pacers as the only two teams in the league not scheduled to play on either of the first two days of the season.
Denver finished two games ahead of Golden State in the Western Conference standings last season, taking two of three in the season series.
Nikola Jokic, who sat out a March win in San Francisco, averaged 35.5 points in his two meetings with the Warriors last year.
Jokic has recorded a triple-double in each of his past two openers, including a 16-point, 12-rebound and 13-assist effort against the Oklahoma City Thunder last year. He has had three career triple-doubles on opening night, one off Oscar Robertson’s record.
This time around, the three-time Most Valuable Player will be joined in the starting lineup by Cameron Johnson, who was acquired from the Brooklyn Nets over the summer in exchange for Michael Porter Jr.
Johnson joins Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas in a deeper roster the Nuggets hope can close the 18-game gap that existed last season between themselves and the Thunder, who had the best record in the West before going on to claim the NBA crown.
Nuggets coach David Adelman believes Jokic should benefit from the beefed-up supporting cast.
“The goal is to move the ball and play the right way,” Adelman told the media of a team that already led the NBA in assists last season. “That’s what Nikola does better than anyone. He makes the right play.”
The head-to-head between Jokic and Warriors standout Stephen Curry will be their 29th in regular-season play, with the perennial All-Stars currently locked in a 14-14 tie. Curry holds a 4-1 advantage in postseason meetings stemming from Golden State’s triumph in the first round in 2022 en route to the NBA title.
Either Jokic or Curry (or both) scored at least 30 points in each of their past four duels.
