Stephen Jackson went on All The Smoke and laid out a five including Stephen Curry he said he would trust more than any other in the league, NBA Analysis reports. “Steph at the one, Jimmy at the two, Kuminga at the three, Draymond at the four, Horford at the five,” Jackson said. He called it “the best lineup in the league this year,” and added, “the Warriors can win the championship.” He stood by Jonathan Kuminga in that group and said the forward would prove him right.
On Thursday night against the Nuggets, Golden State finished with that exact five and flipped the game, Chico ER reports. Through two weeks of camp, five preseason games, and the first two days of the season, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga, and Al Horford had not shared the floor together. “The thought,” Steve Kerr said, “never occurred.”
The Closing Five Turns the Game
Denver led by as many as 14 and rode Aaron Gordon’s 50 points, including 10-of-11 from three. Curry answered with 42, drilled a game-tying three with 21.4 seconds left, and opened overtime with another. After a timeout late in regulation, assistants Terry Stotts and Chris DeMarco suggested the jumbo group.
Butler subbed in for Will Richard at 4:21 of the fourth. Green replaced Brandin Podziemski at 3:50. Aside from a few seconds on the final defensive possession of regulation, that five closed the last 8:50 and carried a 137-131 overtime win. The lineup entered down 116-109 and outscored Denver 28-15 from that point.
Kerr said the staff had not discussed the combination before that moment, ClutchPoints reports. “During timeout, Terry suggested it. Chris DeMarco also suggested it. We haven’t even talked about that combination until tonight. Just felt like the right thing to do. They were having their way with us throughout the game. I felt like, to win the game, we were gonna have to get our best defensive lineup on the floor. Our most athletic lineup. It’s really fun to watch that group, that’s never played together, close a game against one of the best teams in the league,” Kerr said, via Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Why it Worked, in Their Words
Green said the group fixed spacing and shut off second chances. “We got proper spacing, we were able to get a lot of stops, we switched a lot, kept bodies on bodies,” Green said. “And that group was really able to come up with rebounds. Down the stretch, they had one shot. If they didn’t make it, we were off to the races.”
Green also explained how the unit leaned on read-and-react. “Steve usually calls something, but we just go,” he said. “We didn’t need to call anything. We just played off each other. We saw the matchup we wanted, get to that, get to space and then let the next guy make the play. We have five guys on the court that can make a play.”
Curry echoed the decisiveness. “We were just really decisive in getting to our spots,” he said.
The size and skill fit the matchup. Besides the 6-foot-3 Curry, Green was the shortest player in the group at 6-foot-6, and Horford handled the center minutes. The veteran big could meet strength on one end and space the floor on the other, which freed Curry, Butler, Kuminga, and Green to switch and attack matchups.
Jackson’s pregame claim did not settle any season-long debate, but the Warriors’ late-game choice gave it real-world support. The five he pitched closed a win over the defending champions and did it without reps together in camp or preseason. As Kerr put it, it “felt like the right thing to do,” and on Thursday night, it looked like it.
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