The Golden State Warriors finally got into the win column, and they did it in convincing fashion, rolling past the Denver Nuggets 134-114 on the road.
The result moved the Warriors to 1-3 and dropped Denver to 1-2, but the bigger story was how Golden State got there. Yaxel Lendeborg kept forcing his way into the spotlight, Stephen Curry delivered a flawless scoring night, and Nikola Jokić left the game with more questions hanging over the Nuggets than answers.
Lendeborg is the real thing
Forget the chatter around Luka Dončić’s NBA debut. Yaxel Lendeborg is making his own noise, and his game is doing the talking.
He poured in 31 points to lead Golden State, following up the 26 he had in the loss to the Suns. That gives him 57 points over the past two games, which is a serious burst no matter how you slice it.
The Summer League MVP came into the season with plenty of hype, including praise from Kevin Garnett and other big names. Even so, this kind of immediate production is hard to see coming.
He also paced the Warriors on the glass, a huge boost for a team that has lacked size. For a team that stumbled badly out of the gate, Lendeborg has been one of the few clear bright spots.
Curry keeps the Warriors from a dreaded 0-4 start
Golden State was staring at the possibility of dropping its first four games for the first time since Curry was drafted in 2009, but that nightmare got pushed off for at least another night.
Curry was as efficient as it gets. He went 8-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-3 from deep, finishing with 24 points to help fuel the rout. Brandin Podziemski added 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists, giving the Warriors another useful scoring night.
This doesn’t suddenly turn the Warriors into contenders, but it does stop the early-season slide from becoming a full-on crisis. With Curry in the building, Golden State always has a way back into a game - and this time, he helped make sure the return came with a win.
Jokić and Denver are already feeling the pressure
Early-season or not, things look uneasy in Denver.
Jokić has opened the year averaging 24 points, which would be his lowest scoring average since 2019-20. Against Golden State, he finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists, while Jamal Murray matched him with 19 points and eight assists. DeMar DeRozan added 21 for the Nuggets, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace.
What makes the situation more tense is Jokić’s public frustration with the home crowd. For the second straight game, he took aim at Nuggets fans after the boos.
He hit out: “We got booed at our first home game, and I think those fans who booed us, they don’t need to come anymore. If you guys follow us, you know that we never quit and we’ve come back from much worse situations. So if they ask me, they are not welcome anymore.”
Denver now heads back on the road for its next two games before returning home to face the Trail Blazers. For the Nuggets, the urgent task is obvious: cool things down between Jokić and the fan base before the tension gets worse.
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