ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the New Orleans Pelicans at the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State took a 59-49 lead into the second half.
3rd Quarter
The Warriors jumped out to an 8-0 run as Klay Thompson made a jumper, Andrew Bogut stayed a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor with a floater, and Stephen Curry drew free throws, then turned the corner sharply on a screen on the right side, dribbling over from the left, then beat his defender to the rim with a finger roll.
Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry quickly called timeout to stem the tide, with Golden State taking a commanding 67-49 lead with still 10:07 to go.
Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis, and Ish Smith helped New Orleans pick themselves back up with six straight points, but they were in the penalty early with 8:29 to go after Harrison Barnes passed up a three for a shorter jumper that rattled in, and Curry drew a blocking foul.
Curry got another layup, then later Festus Ezeli slammed home a slip on double-action down low with Curry and Klay Thompson, plus a bad touch foul on Davis…
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…but Ezeli missed the and-one free throw.
Shortly thereafter, Curry got switched on action with Green, such that Ryan Anderson was guarding him on the deep right wing. Curry went between-the-legs then crossed over one more time, shooting a pull-up three with the befuddled Anderson still stuck on the last move.
Curry’s shot rimmed out, but Ezeli tapped the board out to Iguodala. Curry snuck past Anderson backdoor, but Davis was there at the last possible moment for a nice swat:
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Alonzo Gee ended up with an impressive in-transition dunk on the other end.
At the 7:08 mark, Bogut came out of the game after colliding heads with Cunningham, requiring stitches and blood to be cleaned. The injury was unclear and he was questionable to return, according to the TV broadcast.
Thompson had to sit after a phantom offensive charge that had Smith retreating several steps for the generous whistle, Klay’s fourth personal.
Then Curry slashed through the Pelicans’ defense with two crossovers. Leandro Barbosa, who had subbed in for Thompson, eventually missed a three-pointer in the left corner, but Andre Iguodala found the ball in his hands in the middle of the paint on a fortunate bounce and conveniently found Curry wide open at the right wing:
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Steph splashed it through and the Warriors took an 85-70 lead approaching 3 minutes remaining.
A Barnes triple from the right wing after Barbosa missed and Ezeli got the offensive rebound and found Harrison, made it 90-70, Warriors.
Ezeli then blocked Davis. Curry, who had been subbed out for Shaun Livingston, got out of his seat and kept cheering and cheering towards half court, then realized he’d gone too far, shrugged & went back to the bench.
Barnes forced two airballs near the end of the shotclock to end the quarter.
Golden State held a 94-75 lead heading into the final stanza. Curry was up to 40 points, 7 assists. Davis was a cold 1-for-15 from the floor.
4th Quarter
Barnes continued his solid defense, drawing a charge on Anderson to start the fourth quarter, as he, Livingston, Barbosa, Iguodala, and Marreese Speights got the start.
With Curry on the bench, two free throws by Speights gave the Warriors 100 points to the Pelicans’ 79 with a good 9 minutes remaining.
Meanwhile, only Alexis Ajinca could muster any offense for the Pelicans, as Draymond Green forced a steal on Davis at the top of the circle with Livingston pouncing.
Curry came back in for Speights with 8:37 left.
Green picked up two personals on a dislodging of Davis in the post and a reach-in helping on Smith, to give Draymond 5 fouls.
Livingston got his first wide-open three-point attempt in who-knows-when, but it back-rimmed after Curry sliced and diced the Pelicans up top with crossovers again as he did earlier, then found Green in the corner who fed Shaun up top.
Ezeli got a dunk, fed by Livingston, then another one much later from Barnes. By then, Golden State was up big, 104-89, with 2:29 to go. Thompson, however, committed his 7th turnover of the game.
With 1:40 remaining and the Warriors up, 104-91, Walton cleared his bench ending the night for Curry with 40 points on 14-for-26 field, 5-for-12 downtown, and 7 assists.
The Warriors ended the game with a 111-95 victory.
Ezeli was second on the team in points with 13, going 6-for-10 from the floor. Thompson only attempted 8 shots, missed both of his threes, collected 5 personal fouls, and scored just 9 points.
Davis was held to just 4-for-20 on field goals, but 10 made free throws got him to a respectable 18 points, which led the Pelicans. Smith, in the absence of New Orleans’ usual starting and backup point guards, finished with 17 points.
The Warriors fly out to Texas Thursday and will face the Houston Rockets in three nights on Friday.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @yoellen)
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