Warriors ‘uncles' Close Out Preseason With An Encouraging Banger Vs. Blazers

Warriors ‘uncles' close out preseason with an encouraging banger vs. Blazers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Stephen Curry dug up his typhoon energy. Draymond Green window-shopped a triple-double. Al Horford was raining 3-pointers as if he were alone on the court.

The uncles at the core of the Warriors were vibrant Friday night at Chase Center, and their work in the NBA preseason finale fed a 128-118 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers and in the process sprinkled some encouragement five days before the regular-season opener.

Playing in all four quarters, Curry exited with 8:29 remaining after tying his preseason high in assists with five and posting preseason highs in points (20), rebounds (four) and, perhaps most significantly, minutes (26).

“He’s on a different routine this camp,” coach Steve Kerr said. “And we’ve ramped him up more slowly, so he’s been kind of working his way to this point. He’s not yet where he wants to be, but he’s on track.”

After shaking off a substandard first half (seven points, 3-of-12 shooting), Curry in the third quarter looked a lot like the point guard who has dazzled the NBA for the better part of two decades. The 38-year-old scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, including 2 of 3 from distance, and was plus-15 over seven minutes.

Green, who submitted a solid preseason despite still being in the conditioning phase, saved his best for last. Starting at power forward between center Charles Bassey and rookie small forward Yaxel Lendeborg, Green made the most of his 24 minutes: seven points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and three steals.

Green, 36, had three turnovers, but that’s generally acceptable when accompanied by 10 assists. He has been given an adjusted role and an edict to reduce turnovers, but in this game looked like the good Draymond of old. He posted a team-high plus-18.

“Draymond really lifted us; he was fantastic,” Kerr said.

“He’s going to orchestrate the offense, (and) tonight it was just a clear example of how he got it going,” Horford said of Green. “He was playing at his own pace and just kind of controlling the tempo out there. I think that it’s almost like he welcomes that position that he’s in right now. He knows he’s going to have to do it and there’s just no way around it.”

Horford, at 40 the eldest uncle, came off the bench to drench the Blazers in triples. He scored 15 points in 15 minutes, shooting 5 of 8 from beyond the arc.

The youngest Warrior and the newest member of the rotation, Lendeborg, played a terrific two-man game, with the rookie using his impressive processing of the offense to find the vet with timely passes. Of Horford’s five 3-pointers, three were assisted by Lendeborg.

“The pick-and-pop is a real threat, and it changes everything,” Kerr said. “It forces the defense to have to stretch out, so if we can get that from Al it’s a game changer. Even if he’s not making them, just the fact that he’s picking and popping and taking eight threes, the defense has to honor that.”

It’s Curry and Green, though, who must break some old habits for the revamped offense to succeed. They’ve been teammates for 14 NBA seasons, and their chemistry is in some ways unmatched within the league. 

The goal, according to Kerr, is less improvisation and more structure.

“We’re trying to be way more organized than we have been in the past with our spacing and our cutting and the beginning of our formations,’’ Kerr said. “We’ve thrived in chaos over the years, generating chaos with speed with turnovers. I learned early on that whatever Steph wants to do is a good thing.

“But what’s happened the last couple of years, the league has changed so much. It’s faster. There’s way more 3-point shooting. Teams are more talented 1 through 5. Ten years ago, hardly anyone had 4s and 5s shooting 3s. Now everybody does it, so it’s become much more of a possession game. Based on where our roster is now compared to 10 years ago, we have to win more in the margins.”

Golden State won on the margins, with a 19-10 advantage in fast-break points, committing a preseason-low 14 turnovers and shooting 40.9 percent from deep to Portland’s 35 percent.

The Warriors hope to find symmetry between the uncles and the nephews on the roster; it’s their best path to prosperity. They took noticeable strides in that direction while closing out the preseason.

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