Golden State hasn’t started a season 0-4 since Stephen Curry was playing for Davidson University, but the Warriors are facing that possibility when they visit the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.
After blowing a late lead in its home opener on Friday night, Golden State chose to sit Curry, Draymond Green and Brandin Podziemski at Phoenix on Saturday night. The Suns won by nine, sending the Warriors to their first 0-3 start since the 2007-08 season when they opened 0-6.
Curry, Green and Podziemski should be available against Denver, which won its home opener in overtime on Saturday night. But Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg could steal the spotlight from the veterans after his newsworthy first three games.
Lendeborg mixed it up with Luka Doncic in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night but has backed up his talk with a solid debut. The forward is averaging 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds on the young season and scored a team-high 26 points in the loss to the Suns.
The first-round pick is producing while still trying to understand how defenses are playing him.
“He’s got to figure that out, and he will because he has this amazing skill set,” Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said. “So he just has to learn how to use his tools wisely against the defense he’s going to see.
“I love the young guy. I mean, he’s really talented. I love his competitiveness.”
Lendeborg will have a challenge against the Nuggets’ frontcourt, which includes three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon. Denver likely will be without Cameron Johnson again after the forward sustained a sprained right ankle in Thursday’s loss at Oklahoma City, and rookie Alpha Diallo also missed Saturday night due to a wrist injury against the Thunder. Johnson and Diallo are both listed as doubtful for Monday.
The Nuggets nearly made Monday night a battle of winless teams until they rallied in the fourth quarter against New Orleans on Saturday night. The Pelicans led by as many as 23 points, but Jokic and Jamal Murray fueled a comeback to force overtime and nab a 141-135 victory.
Jokic finished with 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for his 199th career regular season triple-double, and Murray had 42 points.
Jokic heard the fans booing when the team was down big, and he didn’t appreciate the sentiment.
“I think those fans who booed us, they don’t need to come anymore,” Jokic said. “Because if you guys follow us, you know that we never quit and we came back from much worse or similar situations.”
The other factor in the overtime win was rookie Trevon Brazile, who has quickly become a valuable part of the rotation. Brazile had 12 rebounds in his NBA debut on Thursday night and scored seven of his 17 points in overtime and added nine rebounds against New Orleans.
“The biggest compliment you can give a guy that’s a rookie in our league is that the veterans on his team trust him. They have a comfort level with him out there with them,” Denver head coach David Adelman said. “Him bringing what he brings is very unique to our team. We haven’t had a guy like him in a long time.”
