Nuggets-Warriors game postponed (COVID protocol) / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports Credit Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Nuggets' scheduled home game Thursday against the Golden State Warriors was postponed hours before the scheduled tipoff due to COVID-19 protocol.

Golden State Warriors / Schedule

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"The Nuggets do not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with the game against the Warriors," the NBA said in a statement.

The Nuggets made the announcement Thursday afternoon on social media but did not provide further details.

Earlier in the day, reports said that Denver coach Michael Malone had entered the protocol. The Nuggets began the day with three players on the COVID-19 list: Jeff Green, Bones Hyland and Zeke Nnaji.

Four other players were deemed questionable entering Thursday: Aaron Gordon (hamstring), Monte Morris (knee), Austin Rivers (thumb) and Vlatko Cancar (non-COVID illness). Eight healthy players are required for a team to compete.

The decision to postpone the game didn't sit well with Warriors star Draymond Green, who along with teammates Damion Lee and Moses Moody didn't play Tuesday due to COVID-19 protocol. Golden State lost that game to visiting Denver 89-86.

Green tweeted Thursday, "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.

"So when the game is rescheduled (which will probably take a day away from our 'break'), we will 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.

"Not to mention, this will more than likely add a back to back to our schedule, which is also advantage Denver."

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