Golden State’s final lineup against the Nuggets has never practiced together

The Golden State Warriors played from behind almost all night during their Thursday night contest against the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets were seemingly getting everything they wanted offensively, with Aaron Gordon scoring 50 points on the night. Gordon even made eight consecutive 3-pointers at one point. But in the end, thanks to a masterclass from Stephen Curry in the clutchThe Warriors pulled out a 137-131 victory over the Nuggets to move to 2-0 on the season.

The Warriors are hiring that head coach Steve Kerr finished with perhaps the best five-man unit on the team, consisting of Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Jonathan Cummings and new addition Al Horford. This is a lineup that many saw as dangerous to start the season, and they proved themselves as such, going about their business against a Nuggets team projected to be perhaps the Oklahoma City Thunder’s biggest challenger 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 coach Steve Kerr revealed in his postgame interview that the five-man lineup they closed the game with had never even practiced together, yet the assistant coaches recommended that he deploys that unit and throw them into the fire.

“During the timeout, (assistant head coach) Terry (Stotts) suggested it. Chris DeMarco suggested it, too. We hadn’t even talked about that combination until tonight. It felt like the right thing. They were with us the whole game. I felt like, in order to win the game, we had to see our best defensive lineup on the floor. That group, which had never played together, closed game against one of the best teams in the league,” Kerr said, via Anthony Slater of the Athletic.

Steve Kerr finished with Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Cummings, Draymond Green and Al Horford. It’s a big lineup that Kerr said he’s never even played together in practice. Assistants Terry Stotts and Chris DeMarco suggested it late in the game. pic.twitter.com/vFvAmu6oSF

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyslater) October 24, 2025

Stephen Curry saves the Warriors and seals the deal

Thursday night he was getting ready be Gordon’s night. He was already in the midst of a frenzy, hitting 3-pointer after 3-pointer, and he made a 3-pointer to put the Nuggets up by three, 120-117, with about 20 seconds left in the game.

But then Curry wasn’t just going to let anyone steal his chain as the undisputed three-point king. He went to the other end of the floor and drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game and send it to overtime in the continuation of his late-game heater. And then in OT, he got the ball with a 3-pointer, the first of three straight for the Dubs — one from Horford, then a dagger from Butler.