The Warriors drew their wildcard for the win against Nikola Jokic

“I don’t think we played together, not even in training” he was laughing Stephen Curry after the meeting. In a game where the Warriors had no answer to stop Denver’s offense, Steve Kerr and his staff decided to opt for their best defensive five to get back into the match and try to win.

Although they played with only one interior for the rest of the game, the Warriors finished it off with the Draymond Green-Al Horford duo to establish their defensive base and answer the Nuggets’ size.

“It made sense because they put us in trouble the whole match, shooting 54%. We couldn’t stop them, and to have any chance of winning, we needed our best back five.” explained Steve Kerr. “It was great to see them defend like that, and on the other end Steph (Curry) and Jimmy (Butler) did what they needed to do so we could get some good shots.”

A few months ago, Steve Kerr made no secret of the difficulty he was having connecting Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Cummings on the court, three “slow shooters” often ignored by defenses to come and help in the paint. The difference this season is Al Horford.

There is no choice between attack and defense

“Having Al with us is crucial for us because it allows us not to choose between offense and defense. The opposing defense has to respect their shot, it allows us to keep the game going on offense. But on the other hand, we can put it on Jokic and it allows us to switch Draymond. Our defensive coaches wanted to be able to switch Draymond on Jamal Murray so we could switch Jamal Murray — and that we can transfer Jokić. option” the coach described.

For Draymond Green, the difference was being able to control the rebound late in the game. They limited the Nuggets to one shot per possession so they could increase the tempo on the other end. Regardless of the collective lack of experience of these five players, it is compensated by the invaluable experience of the Curry-Green-Butler-Horford quartet.

“There was no panic because we knew what we had to do” he confirmed. “Steve (Kerr) didn’t have to look for a special system. Considering the players and the duels on the pitch, we knew exactly what we wanted to do and that’s where you see the value of having experienced players on the pitch.”

Despite his age, Al Horford is proving he can be the playmaker that Steve Kerr and the Warriors should have hoped would play leading roles in the West. The season has barely begun, but we feel that the acclimatization of the former Celtics to the hard core of this team is going without any problems.

The equation will certainly be different tomorrow, back-to-back against Portland, with Al Horford rested, but Golden State can already be satisfied with this first week of competition.

Comments collected in San Francisco.