West Notes: Nuggets, Jamal Murray, Kings, Warriors

Nuggets

The defending champion Nuggets have completed their sweep of the Heat in their two-game season series — a Finals rematch.

The latest came in Wednesday’s 100-88 win in Miami. Mostly, Denver is back in first in the oh-so-close Western Conference.

“If we can get (the No. 1 seed), sure, we’re going to take it,” coach Michael Malone told reporters. “And we’re not going to shy away from that. You know, it was very effective for us last year, having home-court throughout the entirety of the playoffs.”

• The Nuggets are an NBA-best 10-1 since the All-Star break. They are also 32-9 when their regular starting five of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Aaron Gordon are healthy and together.
• Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on the Nuggets: “When they want to put on the jets, they’ve been able to leave teams behind in the dust.”
• In case you missed it, Murray said he believes Jokic is the best player in the NBA and that he tries to be a close second. Our Ashish Mathur has the full post here.

Kings

The Kings have won seven of eight against the Lakers, including a four-game sweep this season.

The latest win was mostly the result of the Kings’ 10-2 burst to start the third quarter, enabling them to pull away from an otherwise close game.

“Especially in this league, being a team that can come out of halftime and be a great third-quarter team is huge for anybody,” point guard De’Aaron Fox told reporters. “Because you can be up or down and you can extend the lead or bring the lead back coming out of the half.”

This also marked Sacramento’s second straight convincing victory over a potential playoff team. The Kings blew out the Bucks on Tuesday.

“I don’t think we have a problem as a team getting up for big games,” forward Harrison Barnes said. “I don’t think that’s been our Achilles heel at all … We’re able to respond and get up for those games. Now, can we just maintain that consistency and that same focus throughout the rest of the league?”

• Our Brandon Santomauro has more on the Kings and Domantas Sabonis‘ big night right here. So does our Ashish Mathur from a Lakers angle here.

Warriors

The Warriors dropped to 1-2 since All-Star guard Stephen Curry went down with an ankle injury, the latest loss coming at the hands of the Mavericks on Wednesday.

It likely didn’t help that forward Draymond Green was a late scratch with a sore back.

“What Draymond does, he puts his impact on the game one way or the other,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Doesn’t matter. People get hurt, and you’ve got to respond.”

• That said, Kerr suggested his happier with the way things have been going lately. “I like the team a lot better now than I did a couple of months ago where we were really sorting through things,” he said. “We have an identity. I think we’ll bounce back here, and I’m excited about the last part of the season.”