Warriors-Nuggets game postponed due to Nuggets not having enough healthy players
The NBA postponed its 11th game this season due to health and safety protocols. The Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets will not play Thursday due to the Nuggets not having enough healthy players, the league announced.
The following was released by the NBA: pic.twitter.com/GrxtY2ZzjU
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 30, 2021
Denver is in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak. Head coach Michael Malone and three players — Jeff Green, Bones Hyland and Zeke Nnaji — were all placed in the NBA's health and safety protocols Thursday. Two assistant coaches also reportedly entered protocols, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
In addition to that, Denver is dealing with long-term injuries to Markus Howard and Michael Porter. The team also listed Aaron Gordon as out, and three other players as day-to-day for the Thursday's contest.
Until Malone comes out of the health and safety protocols, assistant coach David Adelman will act as the head coach, according to Wojnarowski. With Thursday's game postponed, the first time Adelman will have the chance to act as head coach will be Saturday when the Nuggets take on the Houston Rockets.
Draymond Green sounds off on Twitter
Warriors star Draymond Green wasn’t happy about the postponement.
Green took to Twitter on Thursday afternoon after the game was postponed to slam the NBA, claiming its new rules regarding the coronavirus pandemic didn’t actually improve anything. Instead, he said, the NBA is just straddling the fence.
How do you continue to cancel games when you’ve implemented rules to prevent this from happening? Is that not a competitive advantage for other teams? The guys we didn’t have due to the protocol list played no role in Tuesdays loss? Pick a side but don’t straddle the fence.
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) December 30, 2021
So when the game is rescheduled(which will probably take a day away from our “break”), we wil play them at full strength… But they got to sneak a win when we weren’t at full strength, only two days ago??? Let’s make it make some sense here.
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) December 30, 2021
So when the game is rescheduled(which will probably take a day away from our “break”), we wil play them at full strength… But they got to sneak a win when we weren’t at full strength, only two days ago??? Let’s make it make some sense here.
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) December 30, 2021
The NBA and the players association agreed to a new policy this week that allows players to return to play after just five days instead of 10. About 97% of players in the league are fully vaccinated.
There have been more than 170 players and coaches who have entered health and safety protocols in recent weeks, and seven coaches are currently out. About 36% of referees are out due to the coronavirus, too.
The United States is averaging more than 301,000 new cases each day and recorded more than 488,000 on Wednesday alone, both new all-time records, according to The New York Times. About 71% of Americans aged 12 and up are fully vaccinated.
