DENVER – With their franchise player sick and stuck at home in the Bay Area, the Warriors needed to play a nearly-perfect game just to compete with the Nuggets in Denver on Friday night.

They needed timely shotmaking by Buddy Hield and Brandin Podziemski. Energetic defense from Jonathan Kuminga and Draymond Green. Crisp passes by the collective.

They got … none of that.

The Nuggets shredded the Steph Curry-less Warriors 129-104 at Ball Arena in the teams’ first Emirates Cup group stage game.

The Nuggets shot 55.8% from the field and made 12 of 20 3-pointers in the first half alone to take a 66-49 lead. Meanwhile, the Warriors committed X turnovers and were simply outmatched by the Nuggets.

During one Nuggets run late in the second quarter, Warriors coach Steve Kerr sat motionless for

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