DENVER — Stephen Curry didn’t miss a shot, Yaxel Lendeborg turned in his best effort yet and, at long last, the Warriors got into the win column Monday night against the Nuggets.
Curry finished with 24 points on eight shots, Lendeborg asserted himself with a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double and Brandin Podziemski seemed to unlock it all in Golden State’s first winning formula of the season.
The 134-114 win ended a seven-game losing streak for the Warriors in Denver and ensured they wouldn’t get off to a worse start than 2007-08, when they lost their first six games.
In Podziemski’s 33 minutes, the Warriors outscored Denver by 33.
Lendeborg, who carried the load in the first half and upped his aggression after halftime, was a close second, at plus-27 in 31 minutes. Just about the only thing missing from the rookie’s best game of his young career was his 3-point shot, connecting on just 1-of-8 tries from deep.
But the 6-foot-9, 241-pounder more than made up for his cold shooting night by getting to the foul line 13 times and, importantly, sinking 12 of them. Lendeborg collected a game-high 12 boards, including four on the offensive end that helped the Warriors to 23 second-chance points.
He put an exclamation point on his performance late in the fourth quarter, catching a lob pass in transition from De’Anthony Melton, slamming it home and letting out a guttural yell.
Curry checked out for the final time with 8:04 still to go and the Warriors leading 111-91.
After starting the season 0-for-12 from 3, Georges Niang drained back-to-back shots from deep to put the Warriors ahead to begin the second quarter, and they pretty much never looked back. Golden State fell behind by as many as eight points in the first quarter but never trailed for the final 27:40.
The Warriors entered halftime up four, despite Curry attempting just one shot from the field — a 3-pointer that found nothing but net after officials waved off an old-school 3-point play.
It wasn’t until Curry and Lendeborg both got going at the same time that the Warriors pulled away for good. Curry poured in 17 and Lendeborg added a dozen as Golden State turned a 60-56 halftime lead into a commanding 100-84 advantage by the end of the third.
In a welcome twist, it was Golden State’s supporting cast that set up Curry to stick the dagger in the second half.
