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…
..
