On April 17, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs officially began, and the Warriors played their first home game against the Nuggets. Curry returned from injury this time, he played as a substitute, the Warriors in the second and third quarters to occupy the initiative, in one fell swoop to open the point difference, the third quarter to take a 20-point lead, the last quarter nuggets failed to achieve a counterattack. In the end, the Warriors took the Nuggets 123-107 and made a good start, leading 1-0.
Curry returned from injury in this game, but he did not directly start the game and played as a substitute. With his return, the Warriors offense has become more threatening, and the former big three Curry + Thompson + Green have also joined forces again, and this time all three have a good performance. Curry played 21 minutes off the bench and had 16 points and 4 assists, still slowly finding form; Thompson scored 19 points on 5-of-10 three-point shooting; Green scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, plus 6 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 blocks, and his defense against Jokic was also very good.
In addition to the three cores, the key to the Warriors' easy victory this time is Poole. In the third season of his career, he finally ushered in his playoff debut, but he did not expect Curry to return, and he still got the opportunity to start. This time he did not live up to the expectations of the team, scoring 17 points in the first half of 6 of 6, and continued to threaten in the second half, helping the team to stay in the lead. Playing 30 minutes in the game, shooting 9-of-13, 5-of-7 from three-point range and 7-of-8 from the free throw line, he scored 30 points and 3 assists, becoming the third player in Warriors history to score 30+ in their playoff debuts, the top two being Chamberlain (35 points) and Richmond (30 points). It is reported that curry is willing to come off the bench, and Poole's excellent state is one of the reasons.
Poole successfully completed the counterattack, in the rookie season, Poole is known as the ice shooter, always on the field to hit the iron, the season shooting rate is only 33.3%, three-point shooting rate of 27.9%. Everyone thought that the Warriors wasted a first-round pick, but after that, Poole began to counterattack, and continued to improve, averaging 12 points per game in the second season, and the shooting rate increased to 43.2%; and this season, he averaged 18.5 points and 4 assists per game, shooting 44.8%, and has become an important member of the Warriors' rotation.
Poole, who earns just $2.16 million a year this season, is eligible to sign a contract extension with the team this summer, and the outside world expects him to get a four-year, $100 million contract. Judging from his playoff debut performance, this contract is already beckoning, which is a bit of a headache for the Warriors, and giving a big contract to Poole means that the team lineup needs to make changes, another happy annoyance.