Oklahoma City Thunder standout rookie Chet Holmgren had his welcome to the National Basketball Association moment on Friday night — a 141-139 loss to Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in each club's first In-Season Tournament game.

Despite the Thunder defeat, Holmgren explained how the thrilling contest felt like a full-circle moment for the former No. 2 overall pick.

“First time playing against [Cury] in the NBA, obviously touched on it earlier, great players over there and he's one of them,” Holmgren reflected. “He's definitely a guy you gotta know where he is at all times.”

“It's a cool first full-circle moment I guess you could call it, going to his camp however many years ago it was, and now being in the league with him and playing and competing, you know, that's what it's all about,” the electric rookie continued.

“I want to go out there and compete against these dudes and they want to do the same. So, it's great. They're up 1-0 on us, and we just gotta continue to get better for when we see them down the line.”

Curry dominates for Warriors

As the usual storyline has been early on for the 5-1 Warriors, it was Stephen Curry who stole the show. The four-time NBA champion scored 30 points in the win, adding eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

He also made the game-winning layup with under 0.2 seconds left, in a game that had true playoff-caliber intensity despite the earliness of the campaign.

And there was some drama to end the contest. Curry's shot was originally ruled no good due to offensive goaltending against Draymond Green, but was overturned after a review. Green spoke out about the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament in his post-game presser.

“You just saw two teams competing. We talk about this in the season tournament, and — it's a playoff game,” he explained. “It was a fun game to play and intensity level is there. So job well done to the NBA having this type of excitement in November because there be some dark days in November. But games like this? You can appreciate them.”

It certainly felt like a postseason game, and it figures to be appointment viewing the next time Chet Holmgren and Stephen Curry take the floor together.