ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The New Orleans Pelicans visited the Golden State Warriors in Oakland tonight, the first time Anthony Davis has played in front of #Roaracle since April 3rd, 2013. The anticipation was high, especially it being a meeting between two of the top MVP candidates in the NBA.
David Lee was, once again, out for the Warriors. Draymond Green, who had hurt his thumb in the win against Orlando two nights ago, had told reporters at morning shootaround that he would play.
Eric Gordon was out for the Pelicans due to a left shoulder subluxation.
1ST QUARTER: Disjointedness
The first quarter for the Warriors was inconsistent. When they couldn’t string together a momentum of good plays, Anthony Davis made them pay.
There’d be an Andrew Bogut block, but then, as he dribbled upcourt, Jrue Holiday stole the ball for an easy uncontested layup.
Klay Thompson had a nice cross-over to get to the rim, missed, but Bogut got the smash putback, only to be offset by and and-one by Davis on the other end against Draymond Green, with Bogut barely missing the swat attempt.
Stephen Curry made a fake pass from the right elbow on a drive to completely fool Holiday, assisting to a wide open and cutting Harrison Barnes, but on the other end, Holiday would leak past Curry on the baseline and swish a turn-around jumper on the other side of the basket.
After that lapse in defense, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout, with the Warriors trailing, 14-11, at the 8:00 mark, but on the ensuing “ATO” (after timeout play), Thompson dribbled the ball off his foot.
The iron was unkind to the Dubs as he made a tremendous crossover move from the right elbow on Tyreke Evans, only to have the layup trickle out of the rim. Thompson followed that up with another miss that touched two parts of the rim, then Curry had a nice cut and got a layup that also rolled off the rim.
After a nice block by Bogut on a driving Evans, Thompson missed an open three-pointer that #Roaracle was expecting him to make, then Marreese Speights threw a pass off of Ryan Anderson‘s body, up top, that was retrieved by Holiday for yet another runout layup.
Add to that a Barnes goaltending on an Austin Rivers layup that Shaun Livingston actually blocked, and although the Warriors got a buzzer-beating jumper by Livingston, they entered the second frame down, 28-22.
Davis had 11 points on 5-for-6, including an emphatic, swooping putback slam that came out of nowhere. Curry led the Warriors with 7 points and 3 assists.
2ND QUARTER: Sdot Alive!
The Warriors’ bench sparked a comeback this time as Andre Iguodala and Speights got back-to-back finger-rolls on Pelicans misses, then Leandro Barbosa got a steal and run-out layup on a bad pass to the elbow by Dante Cunningham.
That tied the game at 30-30 with 9:00 to go in the half.
After Livingston went behind-the-back right-to-left for a pull-up jumper on Rivers from the right baseline, Thompson made a three-pointer, assisted by Livingston, and the Warriors started gaining momentum with the starters about to check back in.
The Pelicans had no answer for the Dubs’ potent offense, as Davis got switched onto Curry, who then zinged a pass to Green on an up-cut, and buried the short 15-foot jumper. On a later possession, Thompson sized up Luke Babbitt and took him easily to the paint, drawing a foul on a running jumper.
After Davis slammed home an alley oop from Holiday, Curry penetrated left side past the helping Anderson and scored a right-handed lay-in, then got a trey to go from deep.
Davis tried to answer the Dubs’ attacks with his super-human slams, such as another swooping putback rim rattler on a Babbitt miss from downtown, but the next time down, Green’s long arms negated a Davis drive and the Warriors had a fastbreak layup the other way with Thompson finishing.
As the half drew to a close, Green got a nice interior pass from Thompson, missed a dunk, but got his own putback and, suddenly, the Warriors had a 53-40 lead heading into halftime.
Curry had 12 points on 5-for-10 from the field, 2-for-3 from downtown, and 4 assists, while Thompson added 10 points on 4-for-11 floor, 2-for-4 beyond the arc. The Warriors starting frontline of Barnes, Green, and Bogut combined for 16 rebounds. Bogut had 3 blocked shots.
Davis led New Orleans with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
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