ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two nights after getting blown out by the Lakers, the Golden State Warriors (4-2) were back in the saddle at #Roaracle to host the winless New Orleans Pelicans (0-6).
The Warriors were without Damian Jones (pectoral surgery), but welcomed back Patrick McCaw (sprained left ankle) to the active list. As a result, Anderson Varejao was placed on the inactive list.
The depleted Pelicans were without Tyreke Evans (knee), Quincy Pondexter (knee), and Jrue Holiday (personal). Lance Stephenson (groin) was also released earlier in the day to make room for newly signed Archie Goodwin, who had been waived by the Suns.
Q1 – Cautious
Klay Thompson missed his first three-point attempt, but made two buckets, one a jumper fed by Draymond Green and the other on a cut, assisted by Zaza Pachulia, while the missed trey was tipped in by a sneaky Stephen Curry.
But the offense was not clicking, with Kevin Durant twice making passes that didn’t reach their target. The first went too far on a out-pass to Green, who tried to save the ball before going out on the sidelines. However, there were two Pelicans nearby ready for a fast break so he was fortunate to have it ruled out of bounds.
Thompson added to the turnover list with a bounce pass inside to Pachulia that was too soft, and after Anthony Davis hit a jumper up top — in addition to a previous floater, free throws going up against Draymond, and a step-back to open the game — to give New Orleans an 11-6 lead with 8:08 remaining, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout.
Curry had made a three prior to that, in transition:
The start of a new #SPLASH streak? (@CSNAuthentic) pic.twitter.com/1ZIpZJK3cx
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) November 8, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Zaza had been passive inside, already giving up a wide-open elbow jumper, even taking a dribble, before passing the ball back out for the sake of running the offense, but out of the timeout, Pachulia got the ball in the paint on a baseline inbound, and this time took too long getting rid of the ball, getting whistled for three seconds in the key.
Oracle gave a collective sigh.
Later, though, Curry found Zaza inside with nice lefty shovel pass, then Steph found Green on a cut via nice wrap-around bouncer, and hit a deep left-wing triple after trading turnovers with the Pelicans, as Andre Iguodala got the ball to Draymond up top for the swing:
#SPLASH (x3) for @StephenCurry30! pic.twitter.com/AyWfjHI4sQ
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) November 8, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
That gave the Warriors a 22-19 lead with 3:33 to play.
Kerr inserted Kevon Looney for Pachulia and Looney got on the board quickly with a left-baseline layup, then a “sort of” dunk as he snuck into the baseline while Iguodala toyed with the smaller Buddy Hield in the post.
The Warriors closed out the quarter strong, with Ian Clark coming in and cutting down the lane for a feed from Durant in the low left post, high off the backboard over the helping Davis:
Warriors Motion Weak with curl for layup. #Basketball pic.twitter.com/ufUCaG6A73
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) November 8, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Terrence Jones, determined to take Looney one-on-one, missed a step-back three, then “KD” made an upfake in transition from the right wing on a catch, and took two big steps for a layup at the rim.
Langston Galloway missed a pull-up, and Clark’s heave from halfcourt was too hard as the buzzer sounded with the Warriors up, 28-24, after the opening period.
Q2 – Cheffin’
An impressive jumper by seven-footer Alexis Ajinca and another bad up-pass by Durant to Shaun Livingston kept the Pelicans close, but David West got into the action and tipped in a missed reverse by Klay, then made a cut and got a layup on a laser entry pass from KD.
After a timeout, E’twaun Moore got blocked by West, then at the other end, Iguodala found West inside, who made a sling pass to Thompson in the deep left corner for three more.
Klay added a right-side catch-and-swish to put the Warriors up, 39-35, with 6:27 to go.
Golden State started to make a push after Draymond got a steal, outlet to Steph, who gave the ball up to Thompson, who went inside the lane and jump-passed to Curry. Steph let Klay sneak out to the left corner for a triple.
Curry then made a catch-and-shoot triple, delivered by Green from up top.
Thompson tried to ride the wave, but missed a right-corner three, however, Moore missed inside, Draymond got one of his eight first-half rebounds, brought the ball up and waited as Steph flared out from a pick on the left side with a deep catch, swish!
That gave Golden State a 50-40 lead with 4:14 left, as New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry called timeout.
But out of the timeout, Steph got a rebound, dribbled up, and pulled up from the right wing in front of Tim Frazier and another Pelican, with no Warriors underneath:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Of course, he drilled the heat-check, and Oracle’s top blew off.
The Pelicans couldn’t get a shot off before the shotclock buzzer, Curry went down the lane to attack Davis with a high floater, missed, but Green was there for the offensive board.
Under the hoop, Draymond quickly surveyed, finding Curry covered, Thompson not open in the familiar left corner, but Durant was open on the left wing.
KD got the ball, upfaked, and again took big steps inside for another layup.
Durant then blocked Davis, leading to a curl jumper by Klay.
Davis then drove in the lane, only to get met by great defense by Draymond, who tried to take a charge, but no whistle. Davis threw the ball away to Durant on the contact, and KD made a Euro-step at the other end and got fouled.
Later, Durant had trouble again with a pass, getting it deflected late on an entry to a cutting Steph, but Curry showed off his superior dexterity by tracking it down before anyone else could.
Green eventually got swatted by Davis, but Steph once again was the first one to the ball.
The sequence got killed off, however, as Draymond made a bad cross-court pass into the sideline seats. Curry even added to their ten-turnover half with a carrying violation, plus a bad pass off a Pelican leg that ended with a run-out layup for Moore.
But after a timeout by Kerr to stop the silliness, Klay hit another jumper off a curl with 4.7 seconds remaining.
Moore drew a questionable foul on Thompson before the buzzer, Steph missed a three-quarter-court heave, and Golden State took a 63-49 lead into halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @pepelsantos)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
