The Nuggets used a career game at the foul line by Nikola Jokic, key buckets from Jamal Murray down the stretch and tenacious defense by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to wrap up a 120-114 Christmas Day victory over Golden State.
But from the point of view of Warriors coach Steve Kerr, the Nuggets’ victory was gift-wrapped by an inordinate number of cheap fouls.
“I have no problems with officials themselves. All across the league, we have really good officials,” Kerr said after the Nuggets made 26 of 32 free throws, including an 18-of-18 by Jokic in a game where he shot an ugly 4 of 12 from the floor. The 18 made free throws were a career-high.
“I have a problem with the way we are legislating defense out of the game,” Kerr continued. “That’s what we’re doing in the NBA. The way we’re teaching officials, we’re just enabling players to BS their way to the foul line. If I were a fan, I wouldn’t have wanted to watch the second half of that game. It was disgusting.
“It was just baiting refs into calls, but the refs have to make these calls because that’s how they’re taught. … And the players are really smart in this league. Over the last decade or so, they’ve gotten smarter and smarter, and we have enabled the players, and they are taking full advantage. It’s a parade to the free throw line, and it’s disgusting to watch.”
The Nuggets, of course, didn’t think so.
Coach Michael Malone said he thinks that the Nuggets should get to the line more often, and Murray added that Jokic should be shooting more free throws than he does.
“He gets fouled a lot, he gets (hit) on his arms a lot, and those are fouls,” said Murray, who led all scorers with 28 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. “I think he gets beat up down there kind of similar to the way Dwight Howard used to. He’s such a big body that it’s hard to call every foul, I understand that.”
The Nuggets, playing in front of a festive holiday crowd at Ball Arena, won their fifth straight and halted the Warriors’ five-game winning streak in the process.
“Christmas Day games are always fun,” said Murray, who had an impressive back-door dunk in the fourth quarter. “It always brings me back to watching games like this when I was a kid. You try to take the correct energy into this knowing that a lot of kids are watching.”
In a back-and-forth game, Malone thought the key to Denver’s victory was his team’s perimeter defense on Warriors sharpshooters Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Though Curry finished with 26 points, he shot 3 for 13 from beyond the arc. Thompson, limited to nine points, was 3 for 10 from 3-point land. He credited, most essentially, Caldwell-Pope, for Denver’s effective defense.
“He has the athletic ability to move,” Malone said. “I think ‘KCP’ is one of the best I’ve ever seen in terms of not allowing separation (between the shooter and the defender). He takes tremendous pride on that end of the floor.
“He knows, for this team, that that is his No. 1 job for this team, is to go out there and guard their best player. He does it at an extremely high level.”
Michael Porter Jr. blocked a pair of 3-point attempts from the Warriors, including one from behind on Thompson that led to an easy dunk on the other end.
“For the most part, we did a good job of taking (the Warriors) out of their comfort zone,” Murray said. “They still got great looks, but at the same time, I think we still made it uncomfortable to where they didn’t get those same looks over and over again. I think our defense was good, was on-point tonight.”
Denver entered the final quarter clinging to a 92-89 lead, in large part because it got to the foul line. Jokic had 16 points through the first three quarters but was just 1 for 7 from the floor. He was, however, 14 of 14 from the foul line.
The Nuggets held a 29-26 lead after a first quarter in which the two stars of the show were nearly absent from the box score. Jokic scored two points and took just two shots. Curry, guarded by both Porter and KCP, took only two shots and was held scoreless.
Porter, who finished with 19 points, scored 10 in the first quarter, continuing a recent trend when he sparked Denver with his hot start.
Curry scored just four points in the first half, shooting 1 for 5, including 1 for 4 from beyond the arc, but the Warriors held a 54-53 lead.
Denver has now played in nine Christmas Day games, improving to 3-6 with its victory on Monday. It was the Nuggets’ second Christmas Day victory in a row. Last year, Jokic and Murray led the Nuggets to a thrilling, 128-125, overtime win over Phoenix.
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