By Shawn Whelchel

The Golden State Warriors weren’t in championship form on Tuesday night, as sloppy play and a lack of defense spoiled the teams long awaited return to Oracle Arena in a 114-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

The Warriors defense looked uncharacteristically lethargic and porous, as the NBA champions failed to stop a rolling Denver offense that put up 63 first-half points. The Nuggets were able to use a 18-3 run late in the second quarter to give themselves a solid lead heading into the half and never looked back.

Klay Thompson had a particularly rough night for the Warriors, making just one-of-eight field goal attempts for eight points across 24 minutes of play. Draymond Green lead the starting five with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting, while Steph Curry dumped in 14 points on a similar shooting line, going just 1-of-8 from behind the arc. Leandro Barbosa looked to be the most offensively consistent player for Golden State, adding a team-high 16 points off the bench on an efficient 5-for-8 shooting in just 15-minutes of play.

But while the Warriors failed to keep their foot on the offensive gas pedal throughout the middle-two frames of the game, the Nuggets, led by PF Kenneth Faried, took advantage of the spotty Warriors defense to score a preseason-high 114 points.

Faried led all scorers in the game with his double-double line consisting of 22 points and 12 rebounds. Five other Nuggets scored in the double-digits on the night, including four-of-five starters for Denver, and 16 points off the bench from PG Jameer Nelson.

Adding injury to insult, the Warriors lost Harrison Barnes in the second quarter after the small forward sprained his knee while running into a Denver player while running the floor in transition. The Warriors are expected to update his status on Wednesday.

After allowing the Nuggets to shoot 49.5 percent from the field on Tuesday, the Warriors will need to shore up their defensive effort before the Houston Rockets, and spurned MVP candidate James Harden, come to Oracle Arena on Thursday night.