The Golden State Warriors enter Thursday as the fifth seed in the Western Conference, looking to avoid the play-in tournament and set to face four playoff teams

But for perhaps the first time in their careers, all three are being treated as essential. Their roles are generally consistent on a game-to-game basis, and when they have it going, as they did on Thursday,

The Nuggets have injury statuses for Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray going into Friday's game against the Warriors.

Warriors star Draymond Green got a strong co-sign for his DPOY case from Hall of Famer Reggie Miller on the TNT broadcast in Thursday's win against the Lakers.

Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry has turned in back-to-back dominant performances when his team needed it most. In a tightly-contested Western Conference seeding battled, Golden State picked up consecutive wins over the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers to improve to 45-31 on the season.

The Warriors are 26-20 in Western Conference games. Golden State is second in the Western Conference with 29.2 assists per game led by Stephen Curry averaging 6.1. The Nuggets are 29-19 in Western Conference play.

Luka Doncic struggled and the Lakers couldn't rally from an early deficit in a 123-116 loss that helped Golden State make up ground on them in the West playoff race.

LOS ANGELES — Stephen Curry scored 37 points, Brandin Podziemski added 28 and the Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 123-116 on Thursday night for their fourth win in a row in a potential first-round playoff preview.