Warrior Wonder: Kevin Durant and Draymond Green are unfazed by Denver
The champs had a great game and some funny words after they demolished the alleged “Best of the West”
The Warriors (30-14) made sure the Nuggets (29-14) don’t get any funny ideas and forget this is still about the long game. It was before Tuesday, and it is now.
Nothing that happened in this one — not even a Nuggets win — was going to change that.
If there was any kind of silly notion the Nuggets should be positioning themselves for a title run this season, the Warriors crushed it with a merciless and incomparable 51-point first quarter, an NBA record. It was the best I’ve ever seen a basketball team play, at any level, with any players, anywhere.
There’s not an open window as long as the Warriors are the Warriors — not for the Nuggets, not for anybody.
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) January 16, 2019
K L A Y
@NBCSAuthentic pic.twitter.com/rl2r74px4f
Normally I’m the scribe who portrays the power of the Golden Empire as the insurmountable force that runs the entire NBA. Today it was refreshing to see a Western Conference rival’s correspondent wholeheartedly confess what I’ve been preaching this entire season: the Warriors are still “The Warriors”.
Last night in Denver, the hardest place for road teams to win a game in all of North American sports, the Warriors showed a glimpse of their true powers.
The Warriors scored a franchise record 51 points in the first quarter tonight at Denver, including a franchise-best 10 three-point field goals (10-14 3FG).
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) January 16, 2019
I’m not even going to waste time trying to quantify which individual performance was most devastating to the poor Nuggets. That’d be like asking a man who just had been ravaged by piranhas about which fish had the most vicious bite. The combined destructive power of this squad was too overwhelming.
After 3:
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) January 16, 2019
Steph x Klay x KD: 83
Nuggets: 83 pic.twitter.com/gKCDto9L1E
Klay, Steph and KD all had at least 25 points in 30 minutes or less.
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 16, 2019
They're the only trio to do that in the last 25 seasons ... and they've now done it twice. pic.twitter.com/VQ37GWmKGI
So let’s just boil it down to which Warriors All-Stars had the best post-game quote after the bloodbath.
Klay interrupts media session to talk dunks bet with Zaza
Klay. Only Klay. https://t.co/qpE1xKVKjI
— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) January 16, 2019
Dray and KD scoff at question about reminding Denver who champs are
”Nah, we don’t have to remind them. They know,” Draymond Green told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke after the Warriors’ 142-111 victory. ”It’s been a pretty crazy year for us [but] we’re starting to figure it out, we’re starting to come together and starting to click at the right time. Things are going well.”
Kevin Durant: “I think they know who we are.”
Curry: Warriors have evolved beyond proving anything in regular season
Steph Curry: "I think we're way past making statements. We understand what type of team we are and what we're capable of ... when we play like we played tonight, we're the best team in the league."
— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) January 16, 2019