ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the New Orleans Pelicans at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a 53-42 lead into the third quarter.
3RD QUARTER: Return Of The Splashes
Harrison Barnes picked up where he left off, getting a stop-and-pop to drop, then a lefty lay-in, followed by a finishing layup in transition.
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All three buckets were assisted by Stephen Curry and the Warriors found themselves up early, 59-44.
Golden State maintained their double-digit buffer as Draymond Green blocked a layup by Tyreke Evans. Later, Evans slipped, lost the ball, and Justin Holiday converted the run-out dunk. New Orleans head coach Monty Williams called timeout with the Warriors up, 61-49, and had a few choice words with all three referees about the non-call on Evans’ turnover.
Curry’s shooting woes continued, as he missed a trey, a step-back two, and another went halfway down before popping out.
The Pelicans kept pace and cut the Warriors’ lead to 5 as Eric Gordon missed a floater but Alexis Ajinca tipped it and the ball trickled in the hoop.
However, Green raced back on the other end and rattled in a running banker, attacking the paint from left to right. After a Norris Cole jumper went short, Curry missed again, this time from the left elbow and much to Oracle’s chagrin…
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…but Green got the offensive rebound and made an interior pass to Andre Iguodala who finished with a two-hand flush.
Golden State took a 70-61 lead with 4:06 to play and Williams called a twenty-second timeout to stop the momentary bleeding.
Cole then swished a triple from the right elbow as the Pelicans’ shotclock expired. Curry came back on the other end trying to answer it and he finally did, celebrating with exaggerating hooray fists pumps in the air while trotting back on defense.
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He was now 2-for-14 from the field. The Warriors led 75-64 with over two minutes to go in the third and Oracle was extremely happy.
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Chef Curry got cooking, as he made a hanging, clutching runner that trickled in after hitting the side of the rim and the backboard. Then with 22 seconds left, Green had the ball on the far left elbow, handed the ball to Steph, who retreated and fired from 27 feet. Splash!
Golden State now held a twenty-point lead, 86-66. The Warriors went on a 14-2 run just before the end of the quarter, including the buckets from Curry, a jumper by Marreese Speights, and a running banker by Iguodala.
All of a sudden, Curry had 16 points and 11 assists, although he shot just 4-for-17, 2-for-10 from beyond the arc. Barnes still led the way with 22 points on 9-for-13 field. Ajinca and Pondexter led the Pelicans with 15 points apiece.
4TH QUARTER: Iguodala Delivers Knock-Out Punches
The second unit kept the pressure on New Orleans, as Speights converted a reverse layup and drilled a catch-and-shoot assisted by Iguodala to maintain a large margin at 90-68 with 10:32 remaining.
David Lee got into the mix and got a running banker in the lane, going right to left, to fall. Curry celebrated with a little salsa dance.
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But it was Iguodala again putting a stamp on the game as Barbosa stole the ball from Jimmer Fredette and Andre raced down the court for a gliding one-handed slam to make it 96-71 with 8:51 to play, with Williams calling timeout as Oracle rose to its feet.
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The Pelicans just had no firepower in their arsenal to mount any sort of comeback. Still, the crowd at Oracle cheered their team on with “Lets go Warriors!” chants as Livingston posted up on the smaller Cole down in the block, but that chant quickly dissipated after Livingston fumbled the ball out of bounds.
Iguodala gave New Orleans another knockout blow as he received a weakside line drive swing pass from Lee and went easily past the close-out defense, slipping by Elliott Williams for a thunderous dunk, giving Golden State a commanding 102-78 lead with 5:12 to go.
Iguodala would sub out at the 4:52 mark and a lineup of Justin Holiday, Brandon Rush, James Michael McAdoo, Lee, and Festus Ezeli would clean up with garbage time.
Rush even made a long two, his first bucket since January 19th.
The Warriors trounced the Pelicans, 112-96.
Barnes led all scorers with 22 points, Curry had 16, Speights had 13 on 6-for-8 from the field. Green led the Dubs with 8 rebounds and Lee added 7 boards.
Cole ended up the high-scorer for New Orleans with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting.
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