The Golden State Warriors failed to capitalize on what was likely their last chance to make the 2008 NBA Playoffs, with a 105-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday.
The play of Nuggets’ guard, Allen Iverson, and Forward, Carmelo Anthony, proved to be too much for the Warriors to handle. With 33 and 25 points respectively, the Nuggets’ big two effectively ended any hope of a 2008 playoff berth for the team from Oakland.
Golden State fought back with a late rally lead by Monta Ellis with a 33 point effort. The door was slammed shut, however, following an Iverson 3 point shot that swung the momentum back to the Nuggets for good.
“Everybody knew what was at stake,” Iverson later said about the game. Teammate Anthony said, “It was ‘win or go home’ in our minds.” The nuggets leveraged this ‘win or go home’ mentality for motivation and were able to effectively parlay that into a win.
There are still slim playoff hopes for the now frantic Warriors. If Golden State was to win all three of their remaining games and the Nuggets were to lose out, the warriors would take the 8th and final spot in the west.
In my opinion this is very unlikely to happen. It appears to be much more likely that Golden State will take home the dubious honor of “winningest” team ever to miss the playoffs. I will keep you all informed of any amazing comeback in the unlikely event it takes place, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
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