The Warriors’ start to the 2022 playoffs was, in a word, perfection.
What else could you call a rollicking 123-107 win over the Denver Nuggets where no fewer than six Golden State players turned in perfect 10 performances?
Across, the board, the Dubs exuded greatness on Saturday night to take a 1-0 series lead in their first-round matchup.
It was the kind of performance that makes it impossible not to think big when it comes to Golden State’s postseason chances.
Just how far can these Warriors go this spring?
If Saturday was a harbinger of what’s to come, they could well make it to the summer.
Now, it’s important to note that Denver is a favorable matchup for Golden State. Also, this first-round series is nowhere near over yet. Not by a long shot. The Nuggets are plucky and talented, after all.
Plus, we all know it’s never a good idea to get high on one’s own supply.
But now that those disclaimers have been read, another bit of optimism:
We had no idea what to expect from the Warriors team in Game 1. This team entered the postseason with significant questions.
It sure seemed like Saturday’s game provided emphatic answers.
There’s no question now that Jordan Poole is built for the playoffs. You can’t fake what he did in Game 1.
The 22-year-old was, simply put, the best player on the court on Saturday, scoring 30 points with an absurd effective field goal percentage of 88.5. His confidence and swagger were the Dubs’ North Star early in a contest where Golden State required roughly 20 minutes of game time to compose itself.
But compose itself it did. The Dubs’ small-ball lineup of Poole, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and the integral and effective Andrew Wiggins could not have been more superb when they came into the game for the final four-plus minutes of the second quarter.
My goodness was that lineup dangerous.
The Pour Four with Green running point? Denver stands no chance of defending it.
I’m not sure there’s a team in the NBA that can.
Saturday’s was the kind of performance from a lineup that you can’t help but extrapolate past this round, the next, and who knows, even the Western Conference Finals, too.
Alongside Poole creating his own gravity and Wiggins perfectly inhabiting the old Harrison Barnes role on both sides of the court, Steph, Klay and Dray were magic in Game 1.
Yes, the veteran triumvirate might have only played 11 minutes together since the 2019 NBA Finals, but you don’t win 77 playoff games together without some chemistry. So despite Curry only playing 22 minutes in his first game since injuring his left foot one month ago, the Dubs’ big three made it clear that they are, together, still operating on a different level than anyone else in the league.
Green was a force on both ends. His defense on possible back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic was incredible — the Nuggets big man shot 3-of-12 from the floor with Green as his primary defender, per ESPN. His screens, particularly in the final minutes of the first half, where the Warriors’ aforementioned small-ball lineup first formed, created open look after open look. Green’s passing was prodigious, too. He had 9 assists on 14 possible assists. He even knocked down a 3-pointer of his own.
When Green turns in a perfect 10-rated game like Saturday’s, he controls the contest. It’s not obvious, but it’s nevertheless evident.
And no one is beating the Warriors when Green is on that level.
Thompson turned in a 10-of-10 performance as well. Space was provided and it was exploited. Was it a terribly prolific game from Thompson? No. But his impact on the game felt larger than his box-score numbers.
Curry didn’t have a 10-of-10 game, but he did find his stroke late. After missing a month, it only took him about 15 minutes to find his game.
What does it mean for the Nuggets if Curry can be less-than-great (for understandable reasons) and the Warriors still ran their opponent off the court?
What does it mean for the Warriors’ other Western Conference rivals, the Grizzlies and Suns?
Let’s take a moment here to acknowledge the perfect-10 game from Wiggins, who had nine rebounds, 16 points and played his new role to perfection.
In order for the Warriors to effectively play small-ball — especially with the defensively underwhelming Poole as part of the five — it requires a wing like Wiggins to play above his weight on the defensive end.
Barnes was incredible at sliding from the three to the four during the Warriors’ first title run. Kevin Durant was, unsurprisingly, the best you’ll ever see do it. Such are the perks of being a 7-foot “small” forward and deceptively strong.
Wiggins played a no-fanfare game, but he was strong and controlled on both ends of the floor. He was Barnes with a bit more punch. Eight years into his career, it feels like he finally has found the role that he was built to play.
As always with Wiggins, we’ll see if the good times last. But Saturday’s performance was deeply encouraging.
The Warriors’ bench had some stellar performances as well in Game 1. Steve Kerr shortened his rotation — but just barely — and his decision to play Nemanja Bjelica looked inspired. The Serbian stretch center was able to match all of Jokic’s dance moves and by keeping the Nuggets’ big man in space when the Warriors had the ball, he tired him out and created elite offensive opportunities.
Many of those opportunities were taken by Andre Iguodala, who showed Saturday that he sandbagged the entire regular season in an effort to save his veteran joints for the real joint — the postseason.
Iguodala was the ultimate operator in his 13 Game 1 minutes, dishing out four assists in that limited time, taking over control of the game from Green when he was on the bench.
To have a veteran presence like that off the bench is nearly gratuitous.
In all, that’s six players who turned in a Game 1 performance where fault cannot be found.
Will that level of success continue in Game 2 and beyond?
Probably not.
But the Warriors don’t need this kind of performance every night to win. Not at this juncture of the playoffs, at least.
Golden State entered this postseason as a mystery team. Yes, it was suggested they had a high ceiling, but perhaps that was merely the benefit of the doubt being provided to a championship core.
But that benefit of the doubt isn’t being provided any longer. It was taken by the Warriors in Game 1.
The talent is undeniable. The experience is unimpeachable. The tactics were sound and repeatable.
The mystery was solved in one night. This is a team that could well play for months to come.
Don’t say they didn’t warn you.
