Two solid all-around basketball teams
The Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets are both good teams on both sides of the floor. The Warriors have excellent efficiency on offense and defense. According to lineups.com, they are ranked third on offense and fourth in points allowed. The Nuggets are less impressive being ranked eleventh on offense and fourteenth on defense, which are still better than average and Nikola Jokic can often carry the team with minimal help. These are two teams that have a strong culture of team basketball, which is especially noticeable on offense. It will be beautiful basketball to watch with a lot of great cutting/spacing and top-notch ball movement. This is largely due to both teams being very well-coached, so this series will be an epic chess match between head coaches Steve Kerr and Michael Malone. Both teams also have very good depth and are well-balanced.
Injuries
As much as all sports fans hate it, injuries are part of the game. This particular series will be especially suspenseful, as a few key players are questionable to play in the first couple of games, most notably the Warriors’ best player, Stephen Curry. He has had a sprained foot ligament since March seventeenth and he is basically day-to-day at this point. While Steph hasn’t played his best basketball in the past few months, he is still Golden State’s best player by far and is capable of scoring fifty points in a given game at any time. This injury could absolutely determine the outcome of this series more than any other factor. If Curry plays, the Nuggets will want to be fully manned. Unfortunately, two of their top guys, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are currently unlikely to play in this series according to the Nuggets due to long-term injuries they’ve been dealing with this season. That said, Murray is said to have complete power over whether he plays or not and when. So, the outcome of this series depends on the injury report on the day of each game even more than most basketball matchups.
Implications For the Rest of the Playoffs
Injuries are not only a factor for this series but also for whichever team wins going forward. Golden State has been a title contender all year long. As aforementioned, they are a fantastic all-around basketball team. If Steph Curry is anywhere near his normal self, the Warriors have a good shot at winning the NBA Finals. If he doesn’t play or is hindered by his injury, they don’t have much of a chance. If fully healthy, the Nuggets are just as good as the Warriors and any other team in the league. Of course, they aren’t fully healthy right now. If their “questionable/unlikely ” stars are somehow able to join the team for the playoffs, and they resemble the players they were before the injuries, then they have a great shot to play in the first-ever Denver Nuggets NBA Finals.
