The narrative around this team could have been much different after a rough 0-3 start. Instead, the Golden State Warriors have rattled off three straight wins, swinging the momentum in their favor. Piling up wins is great, especially given the Warriors' goal to stay afloat early on, but finding different ways to do so is even better. And Golden State is doing just that right now.
"We're showing that we can be a good team," Curry said after the Warriors' win against the Lakers."Because I think bad teams would go 0-3, go on the road, and not be able to win those two, and then in the fashion that we did, and kind of lose control of the season really early."
Throughout training camp and the preseason, the five-out system – which consists of starting possessions with all five players on the perimeter and promotes a more organized style of basketball – was the center of attention. Steve Kerr and his staff figured that a strategic reset might just be enough to turn things around. Whether or not Golden State's recent success is a sign that it is working, the Warriors are winning games. They're beating playoff teams. That's all that matters.
“These things take time,” Kerr said when asked about the new system. “Phil Jackson once told me the triangle for a new team took a year to implement. And not that we’re implementing the triangle, but we’re implementing new concepts. So I think anytime you kind of shift some schemes, some strategies, and it’s new to players—especially older players, experienced players who are used to doing things a certain way—it’s just going to take time.”
Defensive breakdowns, poor execution, and overreliance on Steph Curry to carry the offense were all common themes of the Warriors' first three losses of the season. But even after Golden State blew a late double-digit lead to the Memphis Grizzlies before traveling to Phoenix to face the Suns without several key players, Kerr remained optimistic: he had trust in his team and liked its depth. Fair to say that those comments have aged well.
Three wins, three different formulas
It's hard to call a game in October a turning point because there's just so much basketball left to be played, but that first win of the season in Denver on Monday was as close to one as it gets. Facing a Nuggets team they hadn't defeated in Denver in four years, the Warriors did it by committee.
With the Nuggets loading up on Curry, Golden State's supporting cast took full advantage. Despite Steph taking just one first-half shot, his team put up 60 points and knocked down 12 three-pointers. As he usually does, Curry got going in the third quarter, ripping off 17 points on flawless shooting. The game was basically out of reach heading into the final frame. Curry stayed perfect the rest of the way en route to 24 points, barely played in the fourth as the Warriors hung 134 points on a team they had struggled to beat over the past few seasons.
Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 31 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Brandin Podziemski chipped in 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Gui Santos had 13 points and three rebounds. Al Horford added 11 points and three rebounds. Georges Niang hit three threes. Draymond Green racked up seven assists. It was a complete team effort – and not only on offense. Defending as a five-man unit, the Warriors limited Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray to a combined 38 points.
In Minnesota a couple of days later, the offense sputtered a bit. Only three players reached double figures: Brandon Williams with 11, Lendeborg with 26, and Curry with 44. On a day his teammates struggled to make shots, Curry put the team on his back. He's going to do that a few times this season – win his team games almost by himself. That's the benefit of having a player of his caliber.
Stating that he did it entirely by himself wouldn't be fair though. The shots weren't falling, but the hustle and the fight were there. They implemented one of the points Kerr had preached throughout camp: winning in the margins.
Against a much more athletic and bigger Timberwolves team, the Warriors controlled the glass, outrebounding Minnesota – which led the NBA in rebounds coming into the game – 53-42. They generated extra possessions, turning 13 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points. They went to the free-throw line 37 times, 10 more than the Wolves. And Green, in large part, alleviated their size disadvantage by basically playing Rudy Gobert off the floor and rendering him a nonfactor. The big man finished at minus-11 in 20 minutes and had just one point and four rebounds.
Then came the rematch against the Lakers. This game could easily be summed up in three words: resilience, depth and adjustments. Resilience because Golden State, in its own building, committed 10 first-quarter turnovers and trailed by 23 points after the first 12 minutes. Depth because it was the second unit that sparked a turnaround. And adjustments – more specifically, defensive adjustments – because despite giving up almost 40 points in the first quarter, the Warriors held a Doncic-led team under 100 points.
Postgame, both Kerr and Curry pointed out the positive atmosphere in the huddle after getting punched in the face out of the gate, mentioning a sort of connectivity. The turnaround that ensued over the next three quarters was as night and day as it gets. The Warriors outscored the Lakers 97-57, shot 18-for-36 from three, dished out 26 assists for only six turnovers, and held Los Angeles to 32.2% shooting from the field and a meager 12% from beyond the arc. Oh, and Curry made Luka touch earth.
STEPH MAKES LUKA TOUCH EARTH 😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/8hfH7a23r8
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 31, 2026
On a night when Lendeborg didn't have it going, his teammates backed him up. Golden State's bench, led by De'Anthony Melton, Niang, Charles Bassey and Will Richard, outscored the Lakers' bench 50-7. Podziemski, stepping in as the second option, hit the go-ahead three in the third, drew three charges across five Lakers possessions between the end of the third and the start of the fourth, and finished with 21 points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals. Green, who's accumulated more turnovers than he has attempted shots in his first five games, recorded nine assists for just one turnover.
Again, as will often be the case, Curry, who put up 31 points, four rebounds and six assists, was the head of the snake. But in a similar fashion to the win in Denver, it was a collective win.
As mentioned a ton over the past few weeks, this team needs to tread water until Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody come back. How doesn't really matter. They don't need one perfect formula. Curry's magic might get them a few more. He's going to adapt the way he influences the game depending on how the defense chooses to play him. But players need to step in every night to help contribute. More importantly, they need to play a full 48 minutes. No blowing a double-digit lead in the fourth. No allowing a team back into the game after leading by as many as 24 points. No sloppy, careless quarters.
Despite the different formulas, there have been a few common threads during that winning streak: solid defense, ball movement, rebounding, simple decisions, and winning the possession battle. That current streak has offered a vision of what it can look like if they stay consistent with that approach.
Add us as a preferred source on Google