Warriors at full strength in Curry’s return
Steve Kerr suddenly faces a playoff conundrum: start Stephen Curry in Game 2 and move Jordan Poole back to the bench, or stick with what worked so well in the Golden State Warriors’ playoff opener and be cautious with Curry.
“Yeah, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Kerr said, smiling.
Poole shined in his playoff debut with 30 points, staying in the starting lineup as Curry returned from a foot injury, and the Warriors smothered Nikola Jokic to beat the visiting Denver Nuggets 123-107 on Saturday.
“Jordan Poole, wow, what a playoff debut,” teammate Klay Thompson said. “He’s just incredible. What a star in the making.”
Healthy at last, Thompson returned to the playoff stage for the first time in nearly three years and scored 19 points with five three-pointers, and the perimeter combination of Curry, Poole and Thompson was too much for Denver.
“It’s pretty lethal,” Poole said.
Jokic had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Denver, facing stifling defense in the paint from Draymond Green and Kevon Looney.
Curry contributed 16 points in 21 minutes after missing a month with a sprained ligament in his left foot. The two-time most valuable player tested it in a scrimmage Thursday, came off the bench and had a minutes restriction. He checked in at the 5:58 mark of the first quarter to a rousing ovation.
Minnesota 130, at Memphis 117:
Anthony Edwards scored 36 points in his playoff debut, and the seventhseeded Timberwolves stunned the No. 2 Grizzlies to grab home-court advantage in their series opener.
“Putting on another show,” Edwards said. “That’s it. Putting on another show and impact winning.”
All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns added 29 points and 13 rebounds and Malik Beasley had 23 points as the Timberwolves, fresh off beating the Clippers in their play-in game, won their first playoff opener since 2004. That’s when they beat Denver in the first round on their way to the conference finals.
In this matchup of the NBA’s top-scoring offenses, the Timberwolves set franchise records for points in both the first quarter (41) and the game. In the matchup of the top pick of the 2020 draft (Edwards) against the No. 2 pick of the 2019 draft (Ja Morant), they became the first opposing players in NBA history to each score at least 30 in a playoff game at the age of 22 or younger. Edwards joined Derrick Rose, Tyler Herro and Magic Johnson scoring at least 35 points in a playoff game before turning 21. Morant led Memphis with 32 points and eight assists.
at Philadelphia 131, Toronto 111:
Tyrese Maxey scored 21 of his playoff career-high 38 points in the third quarter and hit five three-pointers to lead the 76ers in Game 1.
“The only thing I’m going to remember is us winning,” said the 21-year-old Maxey, the youngest 76er to score at least 30 points in a playoff game..
Tobias Harris added 26 points, James Harden had 22 points and 14 assists in his 76ers playoff debut and Joel Embiid, the NBA scoring champion, had 19 points and 15 rebounds. The latter two combined to make only 11 of 32 shots.
Utah 99, at Dallas 93: Donovan Mitchell scored 30 of his 32 points after halftime, Bojan Bogdanovic added 26 and the Jazz opened the playoffs by beating a Mavericks team missing an injured Luka Doncic.
Bogdanovic put Utah ahead to stay just before halftime, making their only two three-pointers of the half in a 13-2 run, and the only made shot by Royce O’Neale was a huge one late for the Jazz, a three-pointer after Dallas cut an 11-point deficit to one.
“The fact he didn’t hesitate and shot that ball, that’s a mindset, and I think it’s a mindset that our team has right now,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said despite his team making seven of 22 threes.