ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The New Orleans Pelicans were in town for Game 2 of Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs against the Golden State Warriors. (Game 1 Recap)
David Lee was out again for the Warriors with a lower back strain. Jrue Holiday was out with soreness in his lower right leg.
1ST QUARTER: Gordon And Davis Laser-Focused
The Pelicans, especially Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon, got off to a laser-focused start, scoring New Orleans’ first 9 points, with Klay Thompson‘s game-opening catch-and-shoot jumper off a curl and Stephen Curry‘s one-legged swish from the left baseline after recovering his own shot, swatted by Quincy Pondexter, the only Warriors buckets.
Tyreke Evans made a step-back crossover on Harrison Barnes and it was 11-4, Pelicans, early on with 8:51 to play in the first frame.
But Draymond Green and Curry stuck two treys in a row to pull the Warriors back to 11-10.
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Steph added a three from the left wing in transition after Davis went down the lane but missed a slam dunk that Barnes rebounded and led the break with.
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Then Evans missed a layup and the Warriors were off to the races again, this time with Andrew Bogut running the right lane and getting a slam dunk on the ensuing fastbreak.
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But Gordon once again answered back with another trey as Evans and Davis played “tic-tac-toe” to find him, making it 17-15, Pelicans, with 3:55 remaining. Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called timeout and brought Leandro Barbosa in, along with Barnes at the “4” in place of Green.
New Orleans went on an 11-2 run to close out the quarter as Quincy Pondexter scissored in through the Warriors’ interior defense for a scoop shot, and-one, on the left side of the rim, and Barbosa committed a turnover with a pass that went behind Barnes, then Davis made a putback easily out-jumping Curry on the ensuing missed fastbreak layup by Norris Cole.
Bogut threw up an airball put-shot after posting Ryan Anderson in the low right block and sweeping into the middle of the paint, and Davis came back with a lefty finger roll, driving past Bogut from the Pelicans’ free throw line.
Barnes and Andre Iguodala Cole then went down the lane and got a wrap-around pass to Davis for a dunk.
The only thing that went right for the Warriors was when Festus Ezeli checked in, disrupted a Davis shot at the rim, and Barbosa streaked down the court for a fastbreak layup assisted by Green to end the first period with a 28-17 deficit to the Pelicans.
With 5 seconds remaining, Cole missed a jumper, Green got the rebound, led the break, but turned the ball back over to Cole as he went too deep in the lane and had no target for a pass, as the buzzer sounded, epitomizing the plight of Golden State in the opening stanza.
Gordon led all scorers with 11 points on 4-for-5 field, 3-for-3 downtown, while Davis added 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Curry led the Warriors with 8 points on 3-for-7 field, 2-for-3 beyond the arc, while Thompson was just 1-for-4 shooting and 0-for-2 on treys.
2ND QUARTER: #SplashBrothers Lead The Comeback
Curry played the entire first quarter and Bogut logged 11 of the 12 minutes, so Kerr called upon Shaun Livingston, Barbosa, Iguodala, Green, and Marreese Speights — who logged just 40 seconds in Game 1.
With Barbosa and Speights leading the charge, the Warriors fought back. Speights got a jumper from the top after Anderson’s trey went too hard, Barbosa dribbled through the lane left to right and scored a runner, and Livingston found Speights again for a jumper after driving down the right side and delivering a jump-pass.
Barbosa then made a “hesi” move and went down the lane for a layup, which got Oracle on its feet and closed the gap to 32-25, Pelicans, with 9:38 to go in the half.
After Evans went down the left side of the lane, only to get his shot blocked by Green — Warriors possession as the ball caromed off Evans out of bounds — Barbosa tried to dribble past New Orleans center Alexis Ajinca down the left sideline, got caught, threw the ball back to Speights at the elbow, who dribbled in and dished a cross-court pass to a waiting Iguodala in the right corner.
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Andre drained the triple, Pelicans head coach Monty Williams called timeout, and the Warriors had climbed back to a 32-28 deficit with 9:04 left.
Meanwhile, the Warriors chants came back.
But the Pelicans answered back, despite Barbosa getting an and-one against Cole as Barbosa missed his own layup but got fouled on the putback.
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Cole got a jumper freed up by a Dante Cunningham pick, and Cunningham hit a catch-and-turn over Speights after a cut, assisted by Davis.
Kerr called timeout with 6:25 to go and the Pelicans up, 39-32.
Curry and Thompson were re-inserted and the duo led a Warriors’ comeback to close out the half, even after Steph committed an unforced error trying to swing the ball to Livingston on the other side of the court, with Livingston zigging when Curry thought he would zag, then Davis scored an impressive bucket against Bogut, up-faking a catch of a baseline out-of-bounds catch, then getting the shot off against one of the premier defenders in the league.
That gave the Pelicans a 45-36 lead with 4:27 to play.
After Gordon made yet another bucket on a jumper via hand-off from Omer Asik, Curry went down the lane, stopped and faked out Davis in one motion, and got the layup plus the harm from Davis.
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Klay took a turn as he and Green played pick-and-roll on the right side, trading off possessions of the ball as Draymond found Thompson on a step-back catch from beyond the arc.
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Oracle was on its feet again and, after Gordon couldn’t bury a jumper over Green, Klay and Draymond played a little post-up game. Green got the ball in the right low block and passed it back out to the ranging Thompson, shifting left. Bogut came by and set a pick as Klay faded for another triple and drilled it.
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Evans answered right back with a pull-up from the top of the arc, but Curry found Draymond on the roll after the screen and Asik fouled Green. With 1:52 to play, Draymond’s pair of free throws brought the Warriors to within one, 50-49.
Evans then got fouled driving on Thompson down the left side of the lane, but missed both free throws, and Williams ordered Anderson to “hack-a-Bogut”. Bogut missed the first, but made the second, and the game was tied 50-50 with 1:30 remaining.
With Oracle chanting, “Defense!”, Anderson missed a three-pointer from the top, but Curry traveled on the catch-and-drive on the next sequence.
Anderson then had an improbable drive right to left on Draymond, but Anderson used his height advantage to score the running banker.
Barnes then went strong baseline, passing up a wide-open trey from the right corner after Bogut delivered a behind-the-back lefty pass to him.
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Anderson bricked from up top over Green’s outstretched arms and Steph decided he would take the last possession, drilling a three-pointer from the right shade up top beyond the arc, to give the Warriors a 55-52 lead at halftime.
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Evans tried a pull-up over Klay, but it was short-rimmed at the buzzer.
Curry led all scorers with 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting, 3-for-4 downtown, but also had 3 turnovers. Thompson added 8 points on 3-for-6 field, 2-for-4 downtown, while Draymond tallied 9 points, 5 rebounds, and a team-high 3 assists, tied with Livingston.
Davis had 14 and Gordon 13 for the Pelicans.
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