Stephen Curry made the decision to come off the bench in the Warriors‘ playoff opener Saturday night, according to Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Returning from a left foot sprain and bone bruise that had sidelined him since March 16, Curry scored 16 points in 22 minutes as Golden State posted a convincing win over Denver.
Curry patterned his return on what the team did with Klay Thompson when he came back in January as he got 45 minutes of real-time rest in each game. No decision has been made on whether Curry will continue in a reserve role moving forward, but Thompson knows that his presence can make a huge difference in the series.
“I thought he looked great,” Thompson said. “His shot was short in the first half, but that’s to be expected when you come off a long layoff. But he’s still Steph Curry. … Just his gravity and the threat of him being out there is the best. It makes us a championship team.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- The Nuggets went 3-1 against Golden State during the regular season, but Draymond Green didn’t play in any of those games, Andrews adds. He logged 29 minutes Saturday with 12 points, six rebounds and nine assists and helped to control Nikola Jokic on defense. “You need tough and smart, and that’s Draymond,” coach Steve Kerr said.
- Starting in Curry’s place, Jordan Poole surpassed Wilt Chamberlain to become the youngest Warriors player to reach 30 points in his playoff debut, writes Madeline Kenney of The San Jose Mercury News. Poole, who made five of his first seven three-point attempts, was part of a new “death lineup” that broke the game open late in the first half. “Jordan Poole, wow, what a playoff debut,” Thompson said. “All his hard work is paying off. If he doesn’t get Most Improved this year, it just doesn’t make sense.”
- Outside of Poole, the Warriors’ young players didn’t get a lot of minutes Saturday, but the team has confidence in them in case they’re needed, per Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. Golden State has been developing them all year long in hopes of getting them ready for the postseason. “They gotta feel it,” Andre Iguodala said. “It’s really hard to explain to them how the intensity kind of turns up in the playoffs.”
Warriors looked pretty good yesterday. Fingers crossed they can do it again in game 2.
I’m almost thinking it would be smart to do the same thing and bring Curry off the Bench again. Ease him back into the lineup with limited minutes as they did Sunday. Poole’s looking good and it worked in game one so why not? Not saying Curry isn’t a starter but this sure proved to be an effective gameplan.
I agree do the same in the next game because it makes it so tough for Denver’s defense to decide who to guard. They tired out Denver’s defense with all those cuts and constant ball movement. Malone is a good coach so let’s see what he will do differently to adjust to GSW offense set.
Warriors developed a non-qualified nba player to a nba star.
Jordan Poole.
Jordan Poole had talent when he was drafted he just needed the right team to be patient with him. Many NBA players have talent but its up to them to go to the next level. Poole pushed himself from day 1 trying to be the best. Reminds me of another warrior player Oubre who had unlimited talent but never pushed himself to be a great player. You see that in the best players the desire to push themselves to be the best.
Steph deserves a lot of credit for his improvement. Seeing him work everyday and developing a routine to add to the skills jp already had. I don’t think he develops like this without Steph being there to mentor him.
W’s played 10 player rotation like a regular season game! This is W’s basketball instead of 7-8 player rotation. Go W’s!!
Good thing the Nuggets have the MVP otherwise they’d have gotten blown out….
the Joker has no support. Next year they should be a tough team once their players are all back and healthy. In the playoffs you need a healthy team with how intense the games are.
It’s funny the Warriors say they contained Nikola jokic but he still had 25. I guess in the playoffs the Heavy Hitters and the stars are expected to have 35. He went 0-4 from 3 so I guess that’s pretty good.
25 points in 25 shots is great.
Cobi, I would disagree with you generally speaking. If a guy has 25 shots but only has 25 points I don’t know if that is necessary “great.”
Here’s what I mean. And to clarify, “25 shots” in discussions like this mean 25 field goal attempts. In a standard game by a guy who handles the ball a little bit, if he has 25 points with 25 shots that’s not a real “great” ball game.
Say the guy goes 8-11 from the foul line for 8 points, and maybe hits 1-4 three pointers for another three points. That would leave 14 points from the field which is 7 field goals out of 25 attempts. That’s not a good stat line for a typical 25 field goal attempt ball handling, big part of the offense, player.
If you look at Jokic stat line last night, 25 points from 25 shots is not an effective ball game and here’s why. Sure he was a nifty 12- 25 from the field, which includes 0-4 from 3, so he was great in 2 Point Land especially around the key. He’s ractically unguardable in there because of his size and craftiness.
But the reason I say he had an ineffective game and perhaps was “contained” is because he was 1-2 from the foul line the entire game !! He drew no fouls which is a huge part of the grand scheme of things.
I know this is a little bit out on a limb but just giving my opinion that 25 points from 25 shots doesn’t necessarily mean a guy had a “great” ball game.
Only 25 points for the Joker is containing him since he is the main offensive player. Curry had 16 points playing limited minutes and reporters said he was rusty.
I wasn’t able to watch the game but the writer, Mr Hill, said Poole was part of the “death lineup” but didn’t list the “death lineup” names. Kinda lame writing on his part but posters can help me out. My guess: Poole, Curry, Green, Thompson, and Wiggins?
I remember the original death lineup was Curry and Thompson, Iguodala and Barnes and Green.
When Barnes rejected the contract that both green and Thompson accepted the hunt was on for a new small forward who would play a big man in the death lineup. In came Kevin Durant.
I guess today’s death lineup for the Warriors is curry, Thompson, Poole, green and Iguodala. I wasn’t paying attention but maybe you substitute Wiggins for Iguodala? I was watching the game at a party and was half talking, half watching. Perhaps we’ll see in future games who is part of that close out death lineup.
I suppose they call it the death lineup because it’s the crunch time, intense defense, incredible shot making, close out lineup that wins championships.. or in today’s case, hopes to contend for one.
The problem is “death lineup” is in the headine AND “death lineup” is used in the story BUT the writer doesn’t ID the lineup. It’s poor writing. I just read the game story by Monte Poole. It is Curry, Thompson, Green, Wiggins and Poole.
Personally I dont think the “death lineup” is the best one for W’s. Too much offense and shooters, and not enough defense and rebounders. Ball was not moving around very well with that lineup last night.
I kinda agree Michol. It’s weird to say this but having Payton with Green and Thompsons back to form D would make it a solid defensive lineup. So Payton for Wiggins I guess. Though Wiggins’ D is superior to Poole’s.
Yeah …….. OK
Beat the Nuggets first (without two of their best players). Death lineup based on 10 mins. Gotta love writers who never bounced a ball.
Yeah that death line up moniker was labeled such because of that defense in 2015 and those years. Iguadala green Thompson three of the best defenders in the league at that time. Plus the clutch shooting.
I’m not sure that you can label today’s closeout line up the death line up. I made my comment above without realizing it’s just one obscure writer bringing back an old term from back in the day. Good point Al.
Lol are you seriously bringing up the injury excuse?
Warriors didn’t have Thompson for 2 years. Curry missed a season due to injuries. Injuries are part of the game. Nobody has control over injuries.
So stop acting like as if Nuggets are alone in this.
It’s kind of cool that the whole organization and the players have embraced Poole’s emergence as one of THE top key players on the team. You can tell that Poole was somewhat uncomfortable midyear when Klay came back. Poole didnt want to be too aggressive and outshine Klay or Curry, and rub veterans the wrong way. Credit Curry, Klay, Green, Iggy amd coaching staff. Bottom line is W’s are only going to go as far as Poole and Wiggins carry us. Go W’s!!!
Good job by Kerr … May use Curry as a 6th man for thé all 1st round, no need to reach on Curry now
Warriors looked great
I had moments watching the game wondering if Joker is thinking “Do I want a decade more of this”
Futile performance by Denver .
Does he want to have MPJr on his cap sheet, milk carton Aaron Gordon…idk…… they bow out in 5 games this year to GSW he might just hold off on the extension and see how next years playoffs go, hopefully fully healthy and if that goes bad its yikes
I guess the ext is the question, I hear he’s loyal but when your that great there’s NOOO risk in waiting
Personally Id wait myself, and if bounced early next year and it looks sloppy again probably bolt.
Well you have to factor in that Jamal Murray will be back next year. He’s an All-Star and he will add a lot. Imagine Atlanta without Trae young or Portland without Damian Lillard. Murray’s an impact guard for sure.
But I agree with everything else. Gordon and Michael Porter Jr not too sure about their cost-effectiveness on the floor. I love Morris though and Will Barton is definitely underrated.
Curry did not make his first shot for a while, not that he had to. GSW may have the best group of three deep shooters in the league… And Dray made that throw-up from the top with the timer expiring lol. Klay has his quick-release shot back and Poole is on point.
They did succeed in speeding Denver up… That may have secured the game there… Monte Moore is not great at controlling the pace, not to mention Barton. Nuggets have to account for pace to get back.