The Golden State Warriors Draymond Green (left) defends against the Sacramento Kings Buddy Hield (right) during contest at Chase Center San Francisco on Mon Dec 20, 2021. Green said there were Covid 19 protocol rules in place to prevent the postponement of Thu Dec 30, 2021 game in Denver against the Denver Nuggets (AP News photo)

Warriors, Nuggets Bit By the Covid Bug

By Barbara Mason

Tuesday night the Denver Nuggets barely beat the Golden State Warriors 89-86. The Warriors were at a significant disadvantage with a number of starters and bench players sitting this game out on covid protocol. The team was scheduled to play the Nuggets in Denver in a back-to-back Thursday night hoping to settle the score.

The Warriors had arrived in Denver and shortly before the game were advised that this game would have to be postponed due to covid. This was the second Denver game this season that has been postponed. The Nuggets have 7 players that are out (injury) and four that were questionable for tonight’s game. Also out were Head Coach Michael Malone as well as a number of staff members.

The Warriors were waiting to see if the questionable players would be able to go. It was finally decided that this game would not be played tonight.

It was a very frustrating waiting game for Golden State. Draymond Green was vocal on social media blasting the NBA. “How do you continue to cancel games when you’ve implemented rules to prevent this from happening?

Is that not a competitive advantage for other teams? The guys we didn’t have due to the protocol list played no role in Tuesday’s loss? Pick a side but don’t straddle the fence,” he said. The game that will have to be played at a later date will probably be a back-to-back for the Warriors which is another advantage for Denver. Another great point that Green expressed.

So the bottom line is that between the covid cases and the injuries on the Nugget roster the team was unable to put together the league minimum eight players available to start this game. It is what it is but it’s the Warriors that will potentially suffer when this game is finally played.

There was no date for the rescheduled game at the time of this posting. So this virus continues to run rampant across the league. There are currently about 120 players on covid protocol along with countless head coaches joining them on the protocol.

Besides the Nuggets Head Coach Michael Malone on the covid list, Doc Rivers (Philadelphia), Frank Vogel (Lakers), Billy Donovan ( Chicago), Monty Williams (Phoenix), Chauncey Billups (Portland) and Mark Daigneault (OKC) also join Malone in the protocol. Every head coach in the NBA has been fully vaccinated.

The next game for Warriors is scheduled for Saturday night against the Utah Jazz at 6:00 PM. This road game for the Warriors has the Jazz slightly favored to win. With all the disruptions that the Warriors have faced lately they will have to dig deep once again. They have faced adversity before, it is no stranger to the Warriors. They have handled it in the past and they will attempt to do it yet again in Utah.