What we learned as Steph, Buddy lift Warriors to season-opening win

What we learned as Steph, Buddy lift Warriors to season-opening win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

After knocking off some opening-night rust, the Warriors raced past the Portland Trail Blazers 139-104 on Wednesday night at Moda Center to kick off the 2024-25 NBA season.

The Warriors couldn’t make a shot early on and were tied with the Blazers 21-21 going into the second quarter. Then, Golden State found a new gear and couldn’t be slowed down. From the second quarter through the final buzzer, the Warriors outscored the Blazers 118-83. Their 35-point win is the largest margin of victory for a season opener in franchise history.

Steph Curry fell one rebound short of recording his 11th career triple-double in the regular season. The Warriors’ superstar point guard finished with 17 points, 10 assists, nine rebounds and two steals. He had nine assists before his first turnover.

Curry sat the entire fourth quarter and was a plus-23 in 25 minutes.

Andrew Wiggins added 20 points and made four 3-pointers starting alongside Curry in the backcourt, but Buddy Hield was the biggest story of the night. Hield, in his Warriors regular-season debut, scored a game-high 22 points in 15 minutes off the bench. He shot 8 of 12 from the field, 5 of 7 from deep and grabbed five hustle rebounds.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ dominant win, making a statement to begin the regular season against the rebuilding Blazers.

First Look At Starting Five

An hour and a half ahead of tipoff, the anticipation finally came to an end of who would be coach Steve Kerr’s starting five for the Warriors’ season opener. To begin his 11th season at the helm, Kerr opted to go big – by Warriors standards – trotting out Curry, Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis.

The thinking is having a long, athletic group that can shut down the opposition defensively as the offense revolves around Curry. And then, the Warriors began the game ice-cold by missing their first nine shots. Their first make didn’t come until the 6:28 mark to make it a 12-7 game as Curry found a sprinting Green for an easy layup.

Kerr’s starting five played a little over five minutes in the first quarter and were a minus-7. The Blazers outscored them 12-5 as the starters failed to make a shot in their first run together. They didn’t play together again in the second quarter but were the first five on the floor to start the second half. Fittingly, Curry hit his first 3-pointer of the game in the Warriors’ opening possession of the third quarter.

Behind a revved-up defense and shots finally falling, the Warriors’ starting five was a plus-5 together in the third quarter. Overall, they played just over 11 minutes together and were a minus-2, being outscored 25-23. Every starter except for Kuminga had a positive plus/minus.

Built By Depth

Throughout training camp and the Warriors’ six preseason games, depth was a main storyline. The Warriors are deep, real deep. So deep that Kerr used 11 players in the first quarter, and the start of the second quarter made it 12. The order in which Kerr turned to his bench was a bit surprising, too.

Hield, who Kerr has deemed as his sixth man, was first off the bench while replacing Kuminga. Gary Payton II then came in for Jackson-Davis soon after. The next two in were Brandin Podziemski and Kevon Looney, followed later by De’Anthony Melton and then Kyle Anderson.

Moses Moody opening the second quarter made it a 12-man rotation, with only Lindy Waters III and Gui Santos being stuck to the sidelines.

Going into halftime after a strong second quarter, the Warriors’ bench had outscored the Blazers’ reserves 27-11. Podziemski was a plus-18, Hield was a plus-13, Payton was a plus-11 and Looney was a plus-10. When the blowout win ended, Podziemski was a plus-34, Hield was a plus-20, Payton was a plus-26 and Looney was a plus-13. The depth did their thing.

Both Waters and Santos played the final five minutes, and the Warriors’ bench outscored the Blazers 70-37.

Buddy Buckets

Don’t name him the new Splash Brother. Don’t get cute and call him Splash Cousin. But there’s no denying Hield can get buckets in a hurry.

Hield hit not one, not two, not three but four first-half 3-pointers to give him 14 points through his first two quarters with the Warriors.

Starting last season, this is what the Warriors envisioned with Klay Thompson. A flamethrower off the bench, dangerous enough to completely change a game. Only instead they added someone three years younger who never misses games.

In the Warriors’ perfect 6-0 preseason, Hield finished as the Warriors’ third-leading scorer at 12.2 points per game while shooting an absurd 48.7 percent on 3-pointers. Then in his regular-season debut, he put up 22 points and made 71.4 percent of his seven 3-point attempts. His five threes are tied for the second-most ever by a player in their Warriors debut.

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