Austin Rivers earned the Defensive Player of the Game chain following Tuesday night’s effort on Steph Curry, but he only earned the accolade because there weren’t four more of them.
Without Denver’s swarming defensive effort vs. Curry, the Nuggets never would’ve escaped San Francisco with a white-knuckle 89-86 win over the Warriors.
Defending Curry takes five players on a string, connected and communicating, operating in total unison.
Beginning with Rivers but facing waves of defenders after him, Curry was limited to just 23 points on 6-of-16 shooting, including 5 of 14 from the 3-point line. He had more turnovers (six) than assists (four), and if not for a fourth-quarter burst, the Nuggets might’ve flirted with Curry’s season-low of 12 points.