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David Adelman joined the Nuggets in the middle of a league-wide existential crisis in 2017. Twenty-nine NBA teams were reckoning with the seemingly insurmountable threat of the 30th. Steph Curry’s Warriors had just steamrolled their way to the championship in their first year partnering with Kevin Durant, and they were about to do it again the following season. “Basically unbeatable,” as Adelman described them Wednesday. Fortunately for the Nuggets, this all coincided with the earliest stages of their slow build to contender status. They didn’t need to preoccupy themselves with dethroning Golden State. They were just trying to reach the playoffs and feel out what Nikola Jokic’s ceiling might be. It was time to batten down the hatches and wait out the dynasty. Eight years later, that timeline has worked out nicely. As the Nuggets ascended, Golden State was gradually stripped of its parts, weakened by the inevitability of time and business. Yet even now, as Adelman prepares to face the Warriors as a head coach for the first time on Thursday (8 p.m. MT), the general infrastructure there is not so different. Steve Kerr still runs one of the most visually engaging offenses in the NBA. And Curry is still really hard to guard. “They’re unique like us because they play so much split game. … We’ve guarded them a lot of different ways over the years,” Adelman said ahead of Denver’s season opener. “Switching, not switching, maintaining matchups. And a lot of times I think when we’ve guarded them well, they end up being a pick-and-roll team with Steph and Draymond (Green).” Denver and Golden State make compelling adversaries to begin a new season. They play similarly atypical styles, often prioritizing ball movement and off-ball action over the more cookie-cutter framework of a spread pick-and-roll with shooters waiting in the corners. Not that either of them is incapable of that or unwilling to do it. It’s just that other forms of offense can be more effective at maximizing the unique talents of Curry and Jokic. “It’s unconventional (compared) to the rest of the NBA, obviously,” Nuggets forward Cam Johnson said. The “split game” referenced by Adelman has been a staple of the Curry era and a reliable action for Denver, starting with an entry pass into the post. The passer then sets a screen for a teammate (often Curry, coming toward the ball on the perimeter) and splits away in the other direction. “It’s pretty much the same,” Adelman said of Golden State’s system, only pointing out one subtle change over the years. “They have a strong-side split game, but they used to have a weak-side split going on at the same time with Durant or (Klay) Thompson. Little bit different now on the weak side. More of a cutting team after Steph’s initial actions. But Steve has always done an incredible job.” The Nuggets and Warriors also share the distinction of having been the two West teams eliminated in the second round of the playoffs last season. Both have ambitions of a deeper run this time around — Denver with increased depth, Golden State with a full year of Jimmy Butler rather than an abbreviated stint. After acquiring Butler from Miami at the trade deadline, the Warriors went 21-7 when he played to finish the regular season. They’ll already be 1-0 when they tip off Thursday, having beaten the Lakers with 31 points from Butler. “You see Jimmy, how he got to the (free-throw) line so efficiently and how he was able to operate that mid-post area like he always does,” Johnson said. “Those are the things you have to be on a high awareness of when you’re playing against them.” Despite losing a first-round playoff series to Golden State in 2022, the Nuggets have managed to dominate the matchup in recent regular seasons. They’ve won 12 of the last 14 meetings, including six of the last seven in San Francisco. The success doesn’t make defending Curry and company any less exhausting. “We’ve played them 2 million times in the last how many years,” Adelman estimated. Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.
