The Golden State Warriors fell to the Denver Nuggets 120-114 on Monday afternoon, dropping to 15-15 on the season. The Dubs were unable to pull off an upset on the road against one of the better teams in the Western Conference.

While fans were anticipating a duel between Steph Curry and Nikola Jokic, neither team’s star player delivered a dominant overall performance. In fact, Joki didn’t make a field goal until the second half, while Curry only made four of his first 14 shots.

Joki, who made all 16 of his free-throw tries, did a better job than Curry of remaining a scoring threat. He finished with 26 points, 14 rebounds, and eight assists. Curry, on the other hand, ended 7-for-21 with 18 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 assists.

When the Nuggets and Warriors needed offensive help from somewhere, their respective strengths were on full show. Denver looked to the other scorers in their starting lineup. Jamal Murray led the way with 28 points, and every member of the Nuggets’ starting lineup scored at least 16 points. Denver’s bench had no player score more than 6 points.

The Warriors, on the other hand, relied on the depth that has propelled them to the top of the standings. Andrew Wiggins produced one of the season’s top overall performances. He was the Warriors’ greatest all-around player, combining solid perimeter defense with 22 points on 7-for-11 field shooting. Dario ari and Chris Paul combined for 27 points off the bench. Trayce Jackson-Davis’ stat line was less impressive, with only 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 fouls, but he was also a critical spark plug.

However, Wiggins’ better performance may not be enough to bring him back into the starting lineup. As a starter, Brandin Podziemski has continued to shine. In more than 34 minutes of action, he had 13 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals on 4-for-7 shooting (3-for-4 from three).

The Nuggets got off to a fast start from behind the arc and led for the entire opening quarter. However, Golden State’s bench unit ignited a second-quarter run to seize the game’s first lead. Despite a series of back-and-forth rallies in the following two quarters, Curry and Klay Thompson’s failure to generate effective scoring (Thompson went 3-for-12 with 9 points) proved too much to overcome as Murray caught fire late.

The Warriors will head home disappointed after yet another close defeat. They’ll take a couple of days off before hosting the Miami Heat at the Chase Center on Thursday. The first game is slated to begin at 7:00 PM Pacific.