Warriors’ closing lineup vs. Nuggets had never even practiced together

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Warriors’ closing lineup vs. Nuggets had never even practiced together

Jedd Pagaduan, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Fri, Oct 24, 2025 ·

3 min read

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The post Warriors' closing lineup vs. Nuggets had never even practiced together appeared first on ClutchPoints .

The Golden State Warriors were playing from behind almost all night long during their Thursday night tussle against the Denver Nuggets . The Nuggets were getting seemingly everything they wanted on offense, with Aaron Gordon popping off for 50 points on the night. Gordon even made eight straight threes at one point. But in the end, thanks to a masterclass from Stephen Curry in the clutch , the Warriors pulled out a 137-131 victory over the Nuggets to move to 2-0 on the season.

The Warriors lineup that head coach Steve Kerr ended with was perhaps the team's best five-man unit, which consisted of Curry, Jimmy Butler , Draymond Green , Jonathan Kuminga , and new addition Al Horford . This is a lineup that many viewed as dangerous heading into the season, and they proved as such, as they handled their business against a Nuggets team that is being projected to be perhaps the Oklahoma City Thunder 's biggest competitor for the title.

But the bad news for the rest of the league is that that five-man unit still has plenty of room to get better. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr revealed in his postgame interview that the five-man lineup they closed the game out with had never even practiced together, and yet assistant coaches recommended that he deploy that unit and throw them into the fire.

"During timeout, [assistant head coach] Terry [Stotts] suggested it. Chris DeMarco also suggested it. We haven't even talked about that combination until tonight. Just felt like the right thing to do. They were having their way with us throughout the game. I felt like, to win the game, we were gonna have to get our best defensive lineup on the floor. Our most athletic lineup. It's really fun to watch that group, that's never played together, close a game against one of the best teams in the league," Kerr said, via Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

Stephen Curry rescues the Warriors and seals the deal

Thursday night was shaping up to be Gordon's night . He was already in the middle of a bonkers heater, nailing triple after triple, and he made a trey to put the Nuggets up by three, 120-117, with around 20 seconds remaining in the game.

But then Curry wasn't just about to let anyone snatch his chain as the undisputed three-point king. He went on to the other end of the floor and drilled a three to tie the game and send it to overtime in continuation of his late-game heater. And then in OT, he got the ball rolling with a triple, the first of three straight for the Dubs — one from Horford and then the dagger from Butler.

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