In the West Group C of the NBA Emirates Cup on Tuesday, the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets clashed in a battle of two Western Conference juggernauts. After a close, hard-fought campaign through all four quarters, the Nuggets came out with a four-point win (119-115) thanks to several key factors that controlled the outcome of the game.

In their first meeting this season, the Nuggets and Warriors made sure to keep things interesting with a close and highly competitive game that went down to the wire. The teams were tied going into halftime and went back and forth for the rest of the way until the Warriors collapsed down the stretch and allowed the Nuggets to pull away. The Dubs have now lost five straight games.

Nikola Jokic was the hero for the Nuggets with 38 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists on 58.3% shooting. He had help from Michael Porter Jr., who scored 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists in 23:34 minutes. Veteran point guard Jamal Murray tallied 12 points and 7 assists on 4-12 shooting.

For the Warriors, Stephen Curry was the leading scorer just like old times. He finished with 24 points, 11 assists, and 7 rebounds on 8-23 shooting from the field. Jonathan Kuminga tried to step up without Draymond Green to add 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists on 50% shooting. Moses Moody had 13 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist off the bench.

It remains to be seen how the championship hierarchy will play out in the West this season but we know that the Warriors and Suns have earned some degree of respect given their history and status as NBA champions. Sadly, only one team was able to get the win tonight and prove themselves as a bigger threat in the Western Conference right now.

No-Show From Key Role Players

The Golden State Warriors found success early on this season thanks to a well-balanced effort across the roster and contributions from several players across different positions. In their current skid, however, the Warriors’ role players have struggled to live up to those standards and the results have been devastating for the Warriors.

Tonight, they got absolutely nothing from NBA veteran Andrew Wiggins, whose hot play was an early story for the Warriors. He finished with 13 points and 4 assists on 42.9% shooting. He was a team-worst -20 in 30:51 minutes on the court.

Brandin Podziemski got the start tonight but his mistakes in the second half killed the Warriors and Steve Kerr had no choice but to sit him down the stretch. He finished with 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists on 0-3 shooting from three. He was -13 in 24:32 minutes on the floor.

So between bad games for those two and mediocre showings from Buddy Hield and Jonathan Kuminga, it left a lot of pressure on Stephen Curry to carry his team to a win but it just wasn’t enough against one of the top squads in the West.

Major Fatigue For Stephen Curry

As Nikola Jokic set the pace for the Nuggets, Stephen Curry tried his best to keep up with 24 points and 11 assists in 34:18 minutes of action. But by the end of the second quarter, Curry’s fatigue was noticeable and he wasn’t getting nearly as much lift with his legs.

For the game, Curry shot an abysmal 34.8% from the field, including 4-15 from three-point range. He had 5 turnovers and looked a step slow all night long. At 36 years old, some worry that Father Time has finally caught up to Curry but he’s not going to give up now.

After their fifth straight loss, the Warriors need Curry at his best to keep their championship hopes alive but at this point, they may be better off making some moves to get their star the help he deserves.

Late Game Execution Is A Problem

The Warriors actually had a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and at one point they had the game entirely in their control. In fact, with just 2:32 left in the game, the Warriors were up 115-108 with a chance to win the game.

The Warriors somehow didn’t score another point over that final stretch, and they got blocked twice on two separate possessions. This season, the offense has a tendency to shut down in the clutch and it puts added pressure on Curry to save the day and play hero ball to win the game.

With the absence of Klay Thompson and other trusted veterans, the Warriors don’t have many guys left who can step up and close games for them when Curry doesn’t have it. This makes their offense extremely predictable down the stretch and we saw that tonight when they failed to generate any clean looks with the game on the line.

This was a very winnable game for the Warriors, which makes the loss that much worse. For a team that looked like a championship contender last week, the reality is setting in fast for the Warriors that they may be farther off than they thought to being a contender in the West.

For now, there’s nothing left for them to do but play on and hope for the best but we saw Steve Kerr play with the rotations in the fourth and it’s likely we’ll see more of that going forward as the team desperately looks for any solutions.

After a rest day, the Warriors will head back to Chase Center on December 5th for a game against the first-seeded Houston Rockets at 10:00 PM EST. The next night they’ll face the Minnesota Timberwolves at home, at 10:00 PM EST. For December 8th, the Warriors will face the Timberwolves again at home for an early 8:30 PM game on Sunday night.