ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of GAme 1 New Orleans Pelicans at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a 59-41 lead into the third quarter.
3RD QUARTER: Davis Foul Trouble Helps Extend Warriors’ Lead
Golden State managed to draw Anthony Davis‘ 3rd and 4th personals within the first five minutes of the third frame.
Draymond Green drew a charge, anticipating Davis’ dribble from the left elbow into the lane. Green topped that off with a three-pointer from the top as Stephen Curry dribbled in the early offense on the perimeter, setting things up.
Then Curry stole an attempted pass from Eric Gordon inside to a big, and ran pick-and-roll with Andrew Bogut up top. Bogut slipped to the lane, got the feed from Steph, went with the lefty dribble and hung in the air a bit, drawing contact and Davis’ 4th personal.
Although Bogut missed the free throws, New Orleans head coach Monty Williams had no choice but to put Davis on the bench. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr countered with Andre Iguodala for Bogut, moving Green to the “5” and Harrison Barnes to the “4”.
With Ryan Anderson in for Davis, Klay Thompson received an early-offense bounce pass from Steph went down the lane for a one-handed tomahawk…
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…then Barnes got a steal, fed Curry on the break, who found Klay open on the left wing, who swung it one more pass to Iguodala, who drained the corner trey.
That gave the Warriors a 69-46 lead with 6:01 to go in the quarter and Williams called timeout, leading to Oracle chants of, “Warriors!”
Golden State continued to feed off of the absence of Davis. Draymond went down the lane for a two-handed slam, hen got free throws, taking Anderson off the dribble from the left side.
Curry got into the action, getting a dribble-and-pop trey…
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…as well as a catch-and-shoot up curl delivered by Andre Iguodala from beyond the arc on the right wing, and the Warriors had a 78-56 lead with 3:38 to play.
Green then lobbed an alley oop to a backdoor-cutting Iguodala that went a bit too high. Iguodala caught the ball, spun, dished to Shaun Livingston under the rim, and Livingston dunked it with two hands.
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After a bad interior pass from Norris Cole to Davis, who had checked back in, Curry found himself switched with Pelicans backup power forward Dante Cunningham. Steph tried a couple moves, but passed it back up to Green, who waited as Curry juked Cunningham without the ball and eventually went backdoor, fed by a perfect bounce pass from Draymond at the top.
With 1:01 to play in the third, Golden State took their largest lead, 84-59.
However, Pondexter and Davis played on, with Davis getting a swooping one-handed dunk and Pondexter following up a Curry badly missed trey with the shotclock buzzing, with a thirty-foot three-point shot from the deep right side. The ball fell through the hoop with 0.1 seconds remaining and the Pelicans had the game back to respectability, down 84-66 heading into the final frame.
4TH QUARTER: Pelicans’ Comeback Falls Short
With Curry off the floor to start the fourth quarter, New Orleans pulled to within 11 points as Jrue Holiday and Davis hit pull up jumpers while Thompson’s had a shot fall short, had another drive into the paint going reverse layup swatted by Davis, and missed a three-pointer from the top.
The Pelicans had the lead trimmed to 84-73 with 10:20 to play, Kerr called timeout, and soon thereafter with 9:48 remaining, Kerr brought Curry back in the game for Livingston.
After a couple possessions went nowhere, with Davis missing a slam dunk as Bogut disrupted, Klay air-balling a pivot-and-catch from the deep left wing with Holiday closing out effectively, and Cunningham getting a jumper deflected by a close-out of Bogut, Curry drilled a trey from the right wing on a fly-by catch-and-shoot, as if to say, “Enough is enough.”
Davis missed a jumper, then Bogut found himself with the ball on the left block with his dribble already killed. He motioned for either Curry or Thompson to cut, and they tried, but eventually, Steph ended up setting a screen for Klay, Bogut delivered, and Thompson splashed a three.
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The Warriors had a 90-73 lead and Williams called timeout.
Both teams went cold for a small stretch before Davis got a lay-in then, from the high post, made a runner. Kerr called timeout and the Warriors’ lead dwindled to 93-80 with 3:56 to go.
Out of the timeout, Curry went with a running jumper, trying to draw a foul on Cole in pursuit, but there was no call, and Gordon rattled in a three from the top after Anderson got a swing pass and the step around Barnes, and dished it out to the open Gordon.
Golden State and New Orleans then traded buckets, as Klay drew a foul on Gordon driving the left baseline, Davis got a one-handed wrap-around right-hand slam assisted by Cole, which was answered with Steph going backdoor and getting a layup assisted by Draymond.
With a little over two minutes to play, Cole missed a jumper and Williams ordered the Pelicans to foul Iguodala on two successive. It worked, as Davis got a tip-in putback of a layup by Cole blocked by Green, sandwiched in between Iguodala’s one-for-two on both trips to the free throw line.
With 2:05 left, the Warriors led 99-89.
Things got really interesting as Davis drew a foul on Curry in the lane on a switch, then sank both free throws to make it 99-91 with 1:55 to play.
Green made a critical bucket as he double-clutched after driving to the hole after receiving a swing pass up top, getting the shot attempt to go over Davis. Draymond flexed his biceps in celebration and Williams burned another timeout with 1:40 remaining and the Warriors up, 101-91.
But Davis got a running right-handed layup on a cut from the top assisted by Cole, Green bricked a trey attempt from up top, and Davis spun and faded for a jumper over Iguodala from the left block.
Incredibly, the Pelicans had the game down to two possessions, 101-95, with 55 seconds to play.
New Orleans fouled Golden State and the Warriors continued to miss from the line. Green missed the second of two after being fouled going down the lane again, this time on Anderson. Thompson then missed both with 25.0 seconds remaining after Gordon back-rimmed a scoop attempt with Klay flying by, helping, and Bogut snagging the miss.
Gordon did make a pull-up out of a timeout with 24.8 remaining and the officials had to review the play, changing a three-pointer on the court to a two-pointer, giving the Warriors a 102-97 lead.
Thompson was fouled immediately, with 9.7 seconds left, and once again couldn’t convert both, still giving the Pelicans hope with a slim 103-97 lead.
Anderson and Pondexter missed at the rim on the ensuing New Orleans sequence, but Draymond was called for a slap on Davis on the rebound, and Davis sank both at the charity stripe, to make it 103-99, Warriors.
Green and Curry nearly committed a disastrous turnover on the baseline inbound, with Draymond’s bounce pass getting deflected and Steph nearly touching the ball before going out of bounds in front of the New Orleans bench, but the replay review confirmed it was Golden State’s ball with 8.4 seconds to play.
Kerr called timeout, ran a play on the side inbound that freed up Green, who got the ball to Curry, who was fouled with 6.2 seconds remaining. Steph hit the first but, perhaps not surprisingly on this night, missed the second amid “MVP!” chants.
But Barnes out-jumped Anderson on the bounce of the ball off the rim on the miss and, with 1.4 left, was fouled. He drained both and the Pelicans inbounded and let the clock run out, giving the Warriors the Game 1 victory, 106-99.
Curry ended with 34 points on 13-for-25 shooting, but just 4-for-13 downtown, and 4-for-7 from the charity stripe. Thompson had 21 points, while Green collected 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists. Bogut chipped in with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Davis led the Pelicans with 35 points on 13-for-23 field and 4 blocked shots.
Game 2 is in two nights on Monday.
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