{"id":615355,"date":"2026-02-21T07:35:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615355\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T07:35:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:35:19","slug":"golden-state-and-denver-square-off-in-conference-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615355\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden State and Denver square off in conference showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/denver-nuggets-team\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Denver Nuggets<\/a> (36-21, third in the Western Conference) vs. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/golden-state-warriors-team\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Golden State Warriors<\/a> (29-27, eighth in the Western Conference)<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">San Francisco; Sunday, 3:30 p.m. EST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">BOTTOM LINE: Western Conference foes Golden State and Denver face off on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The Warriors have gone 19-16 against Western Conference opponents. Golden State is 3-3 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The Nuggets are 21-10 against Western Conference opponents. Denver is sixth in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA<\/a> with 33.5 defensive rebounds per game led by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/nikola-jokic-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> averaging 9.3.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The Warriors score 115.4 points per game, 0.7 fewer points than the 116.1 the Nuggets give up. The Nuggets score 7.1 more points per game (120.9) than the Warriors give up to opponents (113.8).<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The teams meet for the third time this season. The Nuggets won 129-104 in the last meeting on Nov. 8. Jokic led the Nuggets with 26 points, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/draymond-green-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Draymond Green<\/a> led the Warriors with 17 points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">TOP PERFORMERS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/brandin-podziemski-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brandin Podziemski<\/a> is averaging 12 points and 3.6 assists for the Warriors. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/moses-moody-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Moses Moody<\/a> is averaging 3.3 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/tim-hardaway-jr-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tim Hardaway<\/a> Jr. is shooting 45.4% and averaging 14.0 points for the Nuggets. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/jamal-murray-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jamal Murray<\/a> is averaging 2.8 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">LAST 10 GAMES: Warriors: 4-6, averaging 108.9 points, 40.9 rebounds, 29.5 assists, 11.6 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 45.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 112.3 points per game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">Nuggets: 5-5, averaging 123.4 points, 45.5 rebounds, 29.3 assists, 7.5 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 49.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 116.4 points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">INJURIES: Warriors: Jimmy Butler III: out for season (knee), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/stephen-curry-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Curry<\/a>: out (knee), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/seth-curry-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Seth Curry<\/a>: out (back).<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">Nuggets: Tamar Bates: out (foot), Aaron Gordon: out (hamstring), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nba\/peyton-watson-player\" class=\"entity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Peyton Watson<\/a>: out (hamstring).<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"true\" data-v-d04fc069=\"\">The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver Nuggets (36-21, third in the Western Conference) vs. Golden State Warriors (29-27, eighth in the Western Conference)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,860,301,187,3943,200,78812,164,762,1104,1407,6,253,302,1146,10133,573,911],"class_list":{"0":"post-615355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brandin-podziemski","10":"tag-denver","11":"tag-denver-nuggets","12":"tag-denvernuggets","13":"tag-draymond-green","14":"tag-event_preview","15":"tag-golden-state-warriors","16":"tag-jamal-murray","17":"tag-moses-moody","18":"tag-national-basketball-association","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-nikola-jokic","21":"tag-nuggets","22":"tag-peyton-watson","23":"tag-seth-curry","24":"tag-stephen-curry","25":"tag-tim-hardaway-jr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116107472272946520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}