Warriors youngsters pride themselves on not being team’s ‘weak links’ – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

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LOS ANGELES – On the far end of the UCLA men’s basketball practice court at the Mo Ostin Basketball Center, Steph Curry still is working following Warriors shootaround, more than seven hours prior to their game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Draymond Green is getting shots up on the same hoop. So is Jimmy Butler, with the rest of the team shooting on the opposite end or at a side hoop. Curry, Green and Butler are the center of the Warriors’ solar system. They aren’t surrounded by fellow stars in the starting lineup, but key components who can keep everything in sync or throw the Warriors out of whack. 

Since Butler’s arrival from the Miami Heat, the former has been the story of a resurgent Golden State squad. Curry has been rejuvenated. Green has stated his Defensive Player of the Year case, with an equally competitive comrade to lean on. 

The rest of the Warriors’ usual starting five when at full strength is made up of Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody, two 22-year-olds shining in their own regard. 

“We make sure when teams look at us, they don’t look at us as the weak links out there,” Podziemski said. 

They haven’t been. The Warriors are 18-5 since Butler made his team debut on Feb. 8 in Chicago, and one of those losses came in a game he missed as an injury precaution. None of the five losses have been with Curry, Podziemski, Butler, Moody and Green all in the starting lineup. 

After beating the Grizzlies in Memphis on Tuesday night, the Warriors jumped to the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference and improved to 12-0 using that starting five, giving them perhaps the best group in the NBA. Their 12-game win streak together is the longest by any team in the league this season, passing the Oklahoma City Thunder’s five-man unit of Cason Wallace, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein that had an 11-game win streak together from Dec. 3, 2024 through Jan. 5, 2025. 

“It’s been pretty simple since Jimmy’s gotten here,” Podziemski said. “We got really high-IQ guys in the starting lineup and…

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Publish date : 2025-04-03 15:33:00

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