The Warriors have reopened their playoff tally. After a couple years of dormancy, it appears the beast — reinvigorated with youth and with scar tissue of those recent woes — has been awoken.
We finally got to see Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green (and Jordan Poole) all on the court at the same time, and the righteous confidence emanating through the Bay Area was proven valid.
Golden State played the Denver Nuggets out of the building and looked like they could play significantly better in a very comfortable 123-107 win.
Is this going to work?
There were a fair few questions about the Warriors coming into this game based on the fact that there were less than 15 minutes this season with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all on the court at the same time.
That also meant that there was even less experience using lineup combinations of those three and Jordan Poole.
Would Poole have jitters? Is Curry fully healthy? Will these new rotations be disjointed?
Those were all fair concerns heading into this game. And yet, they were all rendered moot, for the most part, by the end of the second quarter.
Poole was absurd. Whatever notion of first-game jitters anyone had in mind, they evaporated immediately. He began the game 6-for-6 with 16 points, shepherding the early scoring load while Curry worked himself back and came up short on most of his jumpers.
That incision only continued the longer it went. Poole was relentlessly efficient, scoring 30 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 5-of-7 from three in his playoff debut. He looked an awful lot like he’d been there before.
Thompson, for his part, remained efficient, and looked assertive defensively, albeit with Aaron Gordon, — who looked miserably disoriented — his main dance partner. He had 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting and had Gordon stumbling around the joint to the tune of 8 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
There was an early tiff between the two which resulted in the always-lame double techincals. Thompson and the San Francisco crowd seemed to feed off that toxicity. Gordon evaporated.
Now, there are still questions about Curry and just how healthy he is, or how long it will take him to get back to full speed. He certainly looked tentative to begin, with most of his shots clanking off front rim.
But Draymond Green, who appears to once again be at the peak of his powers — with a good ole 12-point, 9-assist, 6-rebound, 3-block night — got him on the board with a clever pass to a cutting Curry behind the back of Nikola Jokic. Curry concluded the first half with an exclamation point three and looked fairly comfortable moving the ball around.
It was clear, though, that he wasn’t his usual self. But in this series, with the way Poole, Thompson and Green are playing, he might not need to be. Hell, Nemanja Bjelica had himself a game. Kevon Looney was steady and agitating defensively, and there were moments, too for Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II.
Jordan Poole might be taking Wiggins’ lunch money
There’s no doubt Andrew Wiggins is coming off his most effective season yet. His athleticism, length and defensive instincts make him an ultra valuable defender even when he’s passive.
He doesn’t have to face the pressure of the No. 1 overall draft pedigree that he never really seemed comfortable facing.
Wiggins can sink into the background of the Warriors’ offense, pick his spots, and provide them useful versatility on both ends.
But if you could have Wiggins or Jordan Poole, who would you rather have?
It obviously depends on how much you value defense, but Poole’s offense would seem to make him the more valuable player.
His confidence at age 22, compared to Wiggins’ frequent habit of turning invisible, might be a bit esoteric, but it’s another real factor.
Poole is eligible for a rookie extension and if you’re him, why would you take anything other than the max?
In year three, he was proven himself as a bona fide, elite scorer. His ability to create space for himself his unparalleled. His patience with the ball and decision making have improved at an exponential rate, discernibly due to his hunger for knowledge and open-eared approach to coaching.
Now, the Warriors could theoretically pay both Wiggins and Poole. But Wiggins expires after 2023, and if it’s the $31.75 million maximum for Poole, that’s not a something you’d expect the Warriors’ brass being willing to pay.
At this stage, it feels like it would be foolish for Golden State to not extend Poole — even if it is the max, and not the $20 million per year figure they reportedly favor — and retain Wiggins. Poole is playing Wiggins right out of the building, and that’s with Wiggins having the best year of his career.
The inaugural win
Even if it was just a glimpse of what’s to come, it was a heck of a glimpse. Curry, again, wasn’t himself, and played just 21 minutes, scoring 16 on 5-of-13 shooting with 4 assists and 3 rebounds.
But the fact that Golden State was able to sit the entirety of its core group with three minutes remaining is no small feat.
This was a breeze of a win and the first playoff win in Chase Center. So how was the atmosphere?
Ehh. It wasn’t poor, but most of the game felt more late regular season than playoffs.
That’s not to say there weren’t moments. Curry’s half-concluding three and Poole’s comically effective scoring antics had the arena reveling in uproarious appreciation.
But for the first playoff game at a new arena, and with the first, long-awaited look at the Warriors’ reunited core, it felt a bit more matinee-ish than you’d hope.
Still, it’s the first one, and the Warriors made it comfortable. Things will get much louder. But this new joint won’t ever be Oracle, and it’s a got a long way to go until it gets close to being in the conversation.