Curry Goes 8-for-8, Lendeborg Scores 31 — Warriors Find a Second Gear
GOATIFYStephen Curry did not need a barrage of attempts to turn Golden State's season around. After three straight defeats, the Warriors arrived in Denver looking fragile and left with a 134–114 victory built on one extraordinary shooting burst and a rookie performance that may matter even more in the long term.
Curry finished with 24 points without missing a shot: eight makes from eight field-goal attempts, three of three from beyond the arc and five of five at the line. Seventeen of those points arrived in the third quarter. Yet rookie Yaxel Lendeborg actually led the Warriors with 31 points and 12 rebounds, while Brandin Podziemski helped give the veterans the support they had been missing.
Golden State is only 1–3, so this was not a cure for every problem. It was, however, a glimpse of a different formula: Curry as the devastating accelerator rather than the only functioning engine.
Curry's perfect third quarter changed the entire temperature
For much of the first half, this looked nothing like the sort of Curry masterpiece that becomes an instant highlight package. He attempted just one field goal before the break. Golden State nevertheless held a 60–56 lead, having absorbed Denver's early push and discovered enough scoring elsewhere to avoid falling into the familiar trap of waiting for its superstar to rescue every possession.
Then the third quarter arrived. Curry opened with five quick points, the Warriors stretched their advantage to 71–60, and a Denver response was met by a 9–0 Golden State run. The visitors reached 80–65 midway through the period and 100–84 by its end. Curry scored 17 of his 24 points in that quarter, the kind of concentrated damage that changes not only a scoreboard but the defensive decisions an opponent makes on every subsequent trip.
What made the performance unusual was the arithmetic. Curry made all eight of his field-goal attempts across the night, including all three from long distance, and never missed at the foul line. Perfect shooting on modest volume is not the same thing as a 45-point eruption, but it can be more disruptive to a defense when teammates are producing. Denver could not simply send extra attention at Curry and assume the other four Warriors would waste the space.
That is the distinction Golden State has been chasing. During the opening losses, every missed opportunity invited the opposition to load up on Curry, pressure the ball and make the offense feel smaller. In Denver, his teammates helped build the platform before he took over. A 40-point team third quarter reflected an entire unit finding rhythm, not just a veteran guard making difficult shots in isolation.
It is also worth separating a perfect night from a sustainable expectation. Nobody, not even the greatest shooter of his generation, is going to make every attempt across a season. The repeatable part is the shot economy: movement that forces defensive rotations, possessions that produce genuine choices and a supporting cast capable of punishing a defense when Curry becomes the focus. That is the real reason this win mattered.
Lendeborg's 31 points are a bigger story than one rookie hot streak
The most important number in the box score might not belong to Curry at all. Yaxel Lendeborg, the rookie forward whose early performances have been one of Golden State's few bright spots, scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against Denver. His contribution meant the Warriors' most established star did not have to manufacture a giant scoring total to secure a comfortable road win.
Lendeborg had already shown signs of this capacity before Monday. In the loss at Phoenix, he delivered 26 points, nine rebounds, five assists and six made three-pointers while several veterans rested. Against Memphis, he produced a double-double and demonstrated the sort of activity that can survive even when his jumper is not falling. Denver was the next test: could the rookie produce alongside Curry, rather than simply absorb usage while Curry was unavailable?
The answer was encouraging. His 31-point performance came in a game where Curry was devastatingly efficient, and his rebounding helped Golden State sustain possessions against a Denver team with Nikola Jokic in the middle. A young forward who can score, rebound and connect plays creates lineup flexibility that the Warriors have lacked whenever injuries forced their veterans into unfamiliar roles.
There is a difference between a rookie getting numbers on a struggling team and a rookie affecting the way a competitive lineup operates. The first can be explained by opportunity. The second requires decisions: when to attack a mismatch, when to move the ball, when to cut behind a distracted defender and how to defend without losing position. Lendeborg's early-season production is promising precisely because his value does not appear limited to one action or one area of the floor.
Golden State should still resist the temptation to treat four games as a finished development story. Opponents will scout his preferred spots, challenge his handle and test his defensive discipline. Shooting percentages can fall quickly once teams change their coverage. But the baseline has shifted. A rookie who can threaten a 30-point, double-digit-rebound night gives Steve Kerr an additional route to offense when Curry rests, when the veterans are unavailable or when a playoff opponent takes away the first option.
That potential is particularly significant for an aging core. A younger contributor does not have to become a second Curry to change the team's trajectory. He only needs to make the minutes around Curry more productive and reduce the number of possessions that demand a heroic shot. Denver offered the clearest early evidence that such a future is plausible.
Podziemski, Green and the veterans finally supplied a foundation
Brandin Podziemski scored 18 points, but the more revealing detail was the balance of his contribution. He also recorded seven rebounds and five assists without a turnover, finishing with a game-high plus-30 rating. That is the profile of a supporting guard who helps the offense remain connected rather than simply waiting for an open jumper.
Golden State also received 13 points from Gui Santos and 11 from Al Horford, while Georges Niang delivered timely three-pointers. Niang's pair of threes helped the Warriors seize the lead early in the second quarter; another outside make helped answer Denver's attempted fourth-quarter response. These are not glamorous sequences, but they are the possessions that determine whether a team turns an eight-point deficit into a manageable game or lets it become a crisis.
The context matters. Golden State had rested Curry, Podziemski, Draymond Green and Horford in the previous game at Phoenix. That decision contributed to the sense of urgency surrounding an 0–3 start, yet it also left key players available for a demanding road assignment. Against Denver, the rotation looked closer to the blend of experience and energy the organization has been trying to assemble.
Draymond's influence is not measured simply by points. His communication, screening and defensive positioning help define the roles around Curry. Horford provides another veteran who understands when to slow a possession, when to move the ball and how to survive against a physically imposing opponent. Neither player can be asked to solve every frontcourt issue over an 82-game schedule. Their value rises when younger players make the lineups around them more athletic and less predictable.
There is an obvious health caveat. Jimmy Butler's continuing recovery and other early availability concerns mean the Warriors are still operating without every intended piece. The win in Denver did not prove that their ideal rotation will stay healthy or that the bench will be dependable every night. It showed a more useful thing: the available group can distribute responsibility rather than placing all of it on Curry.
For Kerr, that creates decisions worth having. Does Lendeborg play more minutes alongside the veterans? Can Podziemski carry additional ball-handling responsibility while maintaining his low-turnover efficiency? Which combinations defend well enough to survive when the outside shots stop falling? The Denver game supplied promising answers, but those questions will need to be tested repeatedly against opponents with different styles.
Denver's perimeter problem exposed the difference between a comeback and control
Denver had reasons to believe it could survive a difficult start. Just two nights earlier, the Nuggets erased a 23-point deficit against New Orleans and won in overtime. Against Golden State, however, a second large comeback never materialized. The home team trailed by 24 in the fourth quarter, reduced the margin to 15 after a Jamal Murray basket and then watched the Warriors respond with nine straight points.
Nikola Jokic finished with 19 points and 11 assists. DeMar DeRozan led Denver with 21 points, Murray added 19 and Bryce Hopkins contributed 13. Those numbers are not inherently disastrous, but they were insufficient against a visitor that shot with extraordinary confidence from the perimeter. Golden State made 22 of 44 three-point attempts, compared with Denver's 10 of 29. That 12-make gap is worth 36 points before accounting for everything else happening on the court.
There is no need to pretend that one shooting disparity explains every defensive possession. Golden State's movement, screening and extra passing created the looks; the made shots then forced Denver to react more aggressively, opening other opportunities. Once Curry caught fire, the Nuggets had to choose between staying attached to the shooters and sending help toward the ball. Neither choice looked comfortable.
Aaron Gordon's ejection after two technical fouls, with 8:34 remaining, further reduced Denver's options during the final period. The Nuggets had already fallen well behind before that moment, so the dismissal should not be used as a convenient explanation for the result. It did, however, remove an experienced forward from a lineup that needed defensive versatility and rebounding to mount a late push.
For Denver, the warning is not that Jokic has suddenly become less effective. His playmaking still organized the offense, and the Nuggets have already demonstrated they can produce explosive scoring nights. The concern is how the team responds when an opponent wins the three-point battle decisively and the supporting defenders cannot consistently contain the initial action. A roster built around an elite creator still needs perimeter resistance and timely secondary offense.
For Golden State, the danger is the opposite interpretation: mistaking one exceptionally accurate night for a permanent solution. Shooting 50 percent on 44 threes is not a reliable nightly plan. The more important development was that Curry's precision, Lendeborg's interior and perimeter threat, and Podziemski's steady work all reinforced one another. That combination gave the Warriors control of the game instead of asking them to win a late coin flip.
The Warriors are not suddenly contenders because they won one game in Denver. Their record remains 1–3, their health questions remain real, and opponents will adjust to the emerging rookie who has become impossible to ignore. But the 134–114 result revealed a more encouraging version of Golden State than the first three games offered.
Curry can still take over a quarter without dominating every possession. Lendeborg can carry substantial scoring and rebounding responsibility. Podziemski can keep the offense connected, while the veteran frontcourt helps organize the chaos. If that distribution of work becomes repeatable, the Warriors may finally have a path that does not depend on their 38-year-old superstar delivering a miracle every night.
Denver will have another chance to answer its own questions. Golden State leaves with a simpler challenge: prove this was a working formula, not just one perfect shooting night.
