SAN FRANCISCO — Throughout two weeks of training camp practices, five preseason games and two days of the regular season, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga and Al Horford never once shared the court in the same lineup.

The thought, coach Steve Kerr said, never occurred.

Then, the Warriors found themselves down big Thursday night — as many as 14 points — in their first game of the season in front of their home crowd. The Nuggets, big and physical, led by Aaron Gordon’s 50-point night, were attacking them at will. So, during a timeout, assistants Terry Stotts and Chris DeMarco made a suggestion.

Butler subbed in for Will Richard at the 4:21 mark of the fourth quarter, Green took the place of Brandin Podziemski with 3:50 to play, and besides a few seconds on the f

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