{"id":619988,"date":"2026-02-23T14:28:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/619988\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T14:28:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:28:05","slug":"warriors-nuggets-brandin-podziemski-scorches-nuggets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/619988\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors-Nuggets: Brandin Podziemski scorches Nuggets"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 While a makeshift Warriors starting five battled it out with Denver\u2019s Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray at Chase Center on Sunday afternoon, only four reserves were available to take on one of the West\u2019s true contenders.<\/p>\n

All of the pieces for a big Golden State loss were in place.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors played the game with a skeleton crew. Steph Curry (runner\u2019s knee) and Kristaps Porzingis (illness) were both ruled out.\u00a0The frontcourt got even thinner as Draymond Green was scratched five minutes before tipoff with lower back soreness. Horford took his place and drew the unenviable assignment of guarding Jokic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But riding an electric finish by Brandin Podziemski, the Warriors notched a spirited 128-117 win.<\/p>\n

He came off the bench and scored 15 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, shaking off a 1-for-10 shooting start to close out the Nuggets. He made all manner of fadeaways, floaters and 3-pointers, each one bringing the crowd to their feet. Podziemski also grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds \u2014 eight in the fourth quarter \u2014 and just missed out on a triple-double with nine assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try not to let it affect me either way,\u00a0 whether I make it or miss it\u201d Podziemski said of his slow start. \u201cI just keep shooting and do whatever the game calls for.\u201d<\/p>\n

After he hit his first few shots of the quarter, Podziemski knew he was in the zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last three jump shots I had felt really slow and in slow motion,\u201d Podziemski said. \u201cAnd so the goal is to always try to find that. The great players do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horford turned back the clock and scored a season-best 22 points on his son Ean\u2019s 11th birthday. Moses Moody led the Warriors with 23, while De\u2019Anthony Melton (20) and Gui Santos (17) joined him in double figures. Off that depleted bench, Gary Payton II put in 15 points and Will Richard contributed 11 for a team that had 42 assists on 48 made baskets.<\/p>\n

Jokic had his league-leading 21st triple-double, scoring 35 points, grabbing 20 rebounds and dishing out 12 assists for the Nuggets.<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Gary Payton II (0) fouls Denver Nuggets’ Cam Johnson (23) in the second quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

They kept it close late, going into the final six minutes tied at 109. After the Nuggets brough Jokic and Murray back into the game, their presence only seemed to fire up the Warriors more. Golden State ripped off a 7-0 run over the next 1:18 to force another Denver timeout. The Warriors took control from there and closed out the victory behind Podziemski\u2019s flurry.<\/p>\n

The shorthanded Warriors rose to the occasion in a nationally televised game from the start, bursting out to a 39-27 lead after one quarter, shooting 9 of 19 from behind the arc while Denver was just 10 of 27 from the field. That high level of offensive execution continued into the second quarter, with the Warriors leading 76-67 at halftime. Golden State had 25 assists on 27 makes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole thing was, I wanted us to play with pace and try to play fast and get the ball moving,\u201d Horford said. \u201cI feel like, as a group, we did that very early on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 15-minute halftime break cooled the Warriors off quite a bit, with Golden State clanking on all 14 of their shots from behind the arc in the third quarter. Six turnovers did not help either, and the Nuggets led 101-95 after three quarters.<\/p>\n

The Warriors (30-27) will travel to New Orleans next for a game on Tuesday (5 p.m., NBC Sports Bay Area).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Denver Nuggets gather for a moment of prayer before the start of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Porzingis takes sick day, Green hurt<\/p>\n

Kristaps Porzingis had spent the past few days practicing with the Warriors, with the team expecting him to be able to increase his minutes from the 17 he played against Boston on Thursday in his debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, on Sunday morning, the 7-foot-2 center, who scored 12 points against the Celtics, was ruled out with an illness that left him confined to his Bay Area hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a text this morning that he was sick at the hotel, and he\u2019s not even going to come over here,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cHe\u2019s pretty sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porzingis has played in only 18 total games this season, and has dealt with various injuries as well as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). Kerr said he had not talked to Porzingis directly and was unsure what sort of illness he had before the game, and had no update to give after the Warriors\u2019 win either.<\/p>\n

The coach was also unsure if Porzingis would be available for the upcoming two-game road trip to New Orleans and Memphis. The same could be said for Draymond Green, who warmed up but was deactivated a few minutes before tipoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was going to play, and then he went out to warm up and his lower back tightened up.\u201d Kerr said postgame. \u201cWith this back-to-back coming up, we\u2019ll see. I don\u2019t have an update.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warriors tune in for hockey<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr watches his team play the Denver Nuggets in the second quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Steve Kerr was one of many members of the Warriors organization who had a keen interest in Sunday morning\u2019s USA vs. Canada Olympic gold medal hockey game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patriotism was not the only reason for the team\u2019s fascination. The Warriors tuned in to watch Macklin Celebrini<\/a>, the son of team doctor Rick Celebrini, lead Canada. As of late Sunday morning, Kerr had yet to reach out to Rick after the USA\u2019s 2-1 overtime victory<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d imagine they\u2019re pretty disappointed, pretty bummed,\u201d Kerr said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After what Kerr called an \u201cincredible, incredible sporting event\u201d, he was moved by members of Team USA holding up a jersey to honor the late Johnny Gaudreau, who along with his brother Matthew, was killed by a drunk driver in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredibly emotional, and then they showed his parents in the stands,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cI knew the story, of course, but didn\u2019t know his family would be at the game. That was just unbelievably emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Brandin Podziemski (2) reacts after making a 3-point basket in the fourth quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets 128-117. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Will Richard (3) reacts after making a 3-point basket in the first quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 De’Anthony Melton (8) shoots against Denver Nuggets’ Tim Hardaway Jr. (10) in the second quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Stephen Curry (30) wears street clothes while on the bench in the second quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Gui Santos (15) dunks the ball against the Denver Nuggets in the third quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets 128-117. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"GoldenGolden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr huddles up with his players before the start of the third quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets 128-117. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Gary Payton II (0) fouls Denver Nuggets’ Cam Johnson (23) in the second quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"GoldenGolden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr watches his team play the Denver Nuggets in the second quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Al Horford (20) drives against Denver Nuggets’ Cam Johnson (23) in the third quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets 128-117. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Seth Curry (31), left, chats with his brother Stephen Curry (30) while sitting on the bench in the third quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets 128-117. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"TheThe Dub Squad performs on the court before the start of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0
\n\"GoldenGolden State Warriors\u2019 Will Richard (3) congratulates teammate Al Horford (20) after defeating the Denver Nuggets during their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Denver Nuggets 128-117. (Jose Carlos Fajardo\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 While a makeshift Warriors starting five battled it out with Denver\u2019s Nikola Jokic and Jamal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,159,160,301,187,3943,164,155,165,6,302,161,157,162,163,66,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-619988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-denver","12":"tag-denver-nuggets","13":"tag-denvernuggets","14":"tag-golden-state-warriors","15":"tag-inside-sports","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-nuggets","19":"tag-peninsula","20":"tag-pm-report","21":"tag-san-francisco","22":"tag-san-francisco-county","23":"tag-sports","24":"tag-warriors-hq"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619988","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=619988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}