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Although the importance of a game against the Golden State Warriors does not really need to be specified, the goalkeeper DeMar DeRozan San Antonio Spurs is nevertheless obliged to follow the triumph of his team 111-105 against the double champion In title.
"They are the No. 1 team of our conference," said DeRozan, "and we play well too."
Not exactly.
The fact that the Spurs play well? No question. Monday's win marked their ninth straight, unquestionably the best sequence of what had been decidedly UN-A thorny season marked by mediocre defense and incoherence. (More on this in a little bit.)
But warriors as No. 1 in the West? Not anymore, with their defeat and Denver Nuggets' 114-105 win over the Boston Celtics, who placed them at the top of the standings at 47-22.
OK, so the warriors are technically still in first place thanks to their 2-1 lead over the Nuggets. (Both teams play one last time in Denver on April 2nd.)
The fact that we are so close this end of season seems to be substantial considering the impressive firepower of Golden State, with the addition of DeMarcus Cousins during the off season, seeming to seal a third consecutive title before the season 2018-19.
And although the playoffs are a totally different beast, the Warriors will have to manage the table just to reach the 60 expected wins.
Or so we thought.
All the credit goes to the powerful Nuggets for making this event interesting and looking great while doing it. Nikola Jokic (21 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists) also beat the Celtics with a superb 16-2 performance in the third and fourth quarters.
The Warriors, meanwhile, have made many runs in San Antonio, but, with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant, they managed a combined total of 10 to 31 on 3 points, have never been able to completely move to side of the bump. (It would have been even worse if Curry had not ran in a 61-foot to finish the first quarter, the fourth kick more than 50 feet from his career.)
This is largely due to a Spurs team that, after struggling for a good part of the season, suddenly rediscovered the defensive prowess that characterized their success under coach Gregg Popovich.
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