DENVER, COLORADO - OCTOBER 26: Yaxel Lendeborg #1 of the Golden State Warriors drives against DeMar DeRozan #10 of the Denver Nuggets during the fourth quarter at Ball Arena on October 26, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) | Getty Images Sean Keane Tue, October 27, 2026 at 6:05 AM UTC · 8 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was easy to feel hopeless about the Golden State Warriors after the first three games of the season. There were injuries, blowouts, massive choke jobs , and a feud between a confident rookie and a massively-talented, massively-whiny superstar. Monday night in Denver, everything clicked for the Warriors and their confident rookie delivered against one of the Western Conference's allegedly elite teams.
Yaxel Lendeborg was the star of the show with 31 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists in the Warriors' 134-114 road win over the Denver Nuggets. While the Nuggets understandably keyed on Steph Curry early, Lendeborg confidently ran the offense, scored in the paint, disrupted the Nuggets' offense and drew fouls like a veteran, going 12-for-13 from the foul line.
Speaking of veterans, the Warriors showed they have a pretty solid rotation when their vets are available. Coach Steve Kerr leaned heavily on his reserves off the bench, and got rewarded by some very nice performances. Al Horford scored 11 points in 19 minutes and was a perfect 3-for-3 from distance.
The Warriors social media team was clearly sucking up to Will Richard with that caption.
Georges Niang also sank three triples and De'Anthony Melton overcame a tough shooting game (1-for-6) to finish +1 with four rebounds and three assists, including an excellent alley-oop to Lendeborg which may have broken the Nuggets' spirits for good.
It was a very unique Curry game, who was content to pass out of double teams and facilitate for his teammates early. Curry took exactly one shot in the first half, and made it. More accurately, he made his first shot on a play where he was fouled before/while sinking a reverse layup, yet inexplicably didn't get the continuation on it. Instead, the Warriors got a side-out, and Curry defiantly responded by sinking a three-pointer.
Most players hit big shots to shove it the face of their opponents. Curry delivered a three-point middle finger to the referees.
Then, in the third quarter, with the Nuggets defense perhaps lulled to sleep by Curry's quiet first half, the Chef went off for 17 points, shooting 6-for-6 overall, 2-for-2 on threes, and 3-for-3 from the foul line.
He finished with 24 points on a perfect 8-for-8 shooting night, including 5-for-5 on free throws.
The Warriors took their first big lead with a 9-0 run midway through the third quarter, featuring a three-shot foul on Curry and Brandin Podziemski both scoring and assisting on two-pointers.
Who stopped the run? DeMar DeRozan, who was clearly energized by playing against a group of players who were also born before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He went on a personal 5-0 run, helped by a friendly bounce on a three-point attempt and an uncalled elbow to the face of Podziemski. Podz didn't help himself by hooking Nikola Jokic's arm and flailing while pretending to go around a screen a minute earlier.
Podziemski may have been inspired by playing against Christian Braun, AKA "Nuggetz Podz." Braun himself signed a five-year, $125M extension that kicked in this season, perhaps laying the foundation for the five-year, $110M deal Podziemski signed before the season. Regardless of the reason, Podz played one of the best games of his career, finishing with 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a plus/minus of +33. He showed nice chemistry with Draymond on a give-and-go, one of the many times he got himself wide open Monday.
Also, was Podz always constantly playing with his mouthpiece and hanging it half out of his mouth before this season? I guess he truly wants to be a Warriors legend, he has to embrace one of the most disgusting habits in NBA history and put his stamp on the game by putting his saliva all over the basketball that everyone has to use.
Denver rallied to close the gap behind DeRozan's foul drawing, cutting the Golden State lead to seven points. Then the young Dubs stepped up. Gui Santos scored inside, Yaxel scored six points on two free throws, a layup, and a dunk, and then Brandon Williams paid respect to his elders by finding Horford for a jumper and a 16-point lead heading into the final quarter.
For the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic had 19 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists, but didn't feel like the disruptive force he's often been, even with three blocks, a steal, and only one turnover. Draymond Green still bothers the three-time MVP, who seemed like he often settled for outside shots (he was 1-for-6 on threes) simply because the Warriors defense was so annoying.
Jamal Murray had 19 points on 13 shots, adding eight assists, six rebounds, and three steals. DeRozan finished with 21 points off the bench but the rest of the reserves scored just 26, 14 of those points coming in garbage time with the game out of reach.
Aaron Gordon had a frustrating game, largely due to Gui Santos (13 points, +18) and Lendeborg. The veteran Denver forward finished with seven points and shot 2-for-10 before getting ejected after two quick technicals early in the 4th quarter.
It was an unusual ejection for a few reasons. First, Gordon was arguing a foul that wasn't even called on him. He took issue with the foul called on Braun for what was a fairly blatant two-handed shove on Curry. The ejection was also unusual because Gordon was effectively ejected by all three officials, after Gordon cursed at one of them, and then pointed at the other two. Finally, Curry signaled for the ejection a second before he was actually tossed, the technical foul version of turning around before watching a three-point shot actually go in.
Curry did his patented turnaround after feeding The Minivan for a three early in the second.
He really did have a nice passing game, finding Podz for a long runout early.
But the real revelation was Lendeborg, who showed off a few previously unseen offensive moves to go with his devastating spin move. He showed off a deceleration move, pump-faked Gordon into a foul, and also simply outran every defender on a few buckets.
You could say that this victory wasn't great because the Nuggets themselves aren't that great. But it does seem like the full-strength Warriors, or the full-except-Moses-and-Jimmy-strength Warriors, are at least decent. And decent might well be enough for this team to tread water until the reinforcements come in 2027. There's still going to be ugly games when many of these veterans are hurt, or sitting out, or secretly hiding out in Latvia, but after a brutal start to the season, it seems clear that this team is completely capable of being a B-minus team in the West.
And not that we would encourage any of our readers to wager on sports, but Yaxel is now second in the odds to win Rookie of the Year, behind his Summer League nemesis Cam Boozer. The future looks very bright for Golden State's rookie, as long as he isn't goaded into punching Luka Doncic on Friday.
Source: Sports
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