By Ben Leonard
Follow @ben___leonard

photo credit: bleachereport.com Golden State’s Stephen Curry’s face says it all in the Warriors third loss of the season

Stephen Curry might be the reigning MVP, but Draymond Green might be nearly as valuable to Golden State. //

Without Draymond Green’s stifling defense, the Warriors (36-3) looked listless on defense in the high altitude at lowly Denver (15-24), falling 112-110 to snap a seven-game winning streak.

Interim head coach Luke Walton decided to rest Green. It made sense — he had been nursing a leg injury that had hobbled him. But it was evident that Golden State certainly missed Green’s athleticism and energy, yielding ten more points than their season average while allowing four Nuggets to score 18 or more points. 

Stephen Curry wouldn’t let his Warriors go down without a fight, dropping 38 points while draining 5 of his 12 three-point attempts. However, he might have been trying a little too hard to will his team to victory — he turned the ball over eight times, including a pivotal one with under 15 seconds left, with the Warriors down just two points. With a chance to be the hero, Curry lost his handle on the ball, allowing Denver to sink two foul shots to put the game on ice. 

Little-used power forward Jason Thompson took Green’s place in the starting lineup, but was relatively ineffective, scoring just four points in thirteen minutes on the floor. With that total, he almost doubled his minutes played this season, as he had seen the floor for just 18 minutes this season.

Danilo Gallinari led the way for Denver, dropping 28 points despite a poor effort from the field (5-14 FGA) — because he made 17 of 19 free throws. Will Barton also chipped in with 21 points for Denver.