The Golden State Warriors were at Smoothie King Center in the Bayou to face the New Orleans Pelicans, vying for their 16th straight win on a back-to-back after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas the day before.
Andrew Bogut and David Lee were, as previously announced by the Warriors, out. Anthony Davis was out for the Pelicans due to a chest contusion suffered in their win against the Cavs two nights before.
1ST QUARTER: The Jrue And ‘Reke Show
Smarting from a blowout loss at Oracle and without Davis, the Pelicans came out assertive and focused to get the Warriors back for the embarrassing loss just ten days ago.
The Warriors got off to a reasonably hot start as Golden State got out to a 16-10 lead with 6:36. Curry was cooking, hitting from 28 feet and forcing New Orleans head coach Monty Williams to call timeout early, hitting jumpers, getting an in-transition three, splitting double teams and, generally speaking, getting to the rim at will as well with the pick-and-roll.
Fellow #SplashBrothers backcourt mate Klay Thompson was in rhythm as well, hitting jumpers and getting the rim on Tyreke Evans
The problem?
Pelicans Jrue Holiday and Evans were getting to the rim as well, with center Omer Asik providing screens on Curry and Evans just being Evans by attacking the hole, sometimes early in the offense, including one time after the Warriors made a three. Holiday was getting jumpers to go down, as well, and the Warriors defense was having trouble stopping him.
Despite being up 21-14 5:33 to play, the Pelicans evened things up at 21-21 with 3:51 to go as a Marreese Speights hand-off to Curry went awry and Austin Rivers stole it for a run-out dunk.
An Andre Iguodala finally broke a drought that last 3:11 with this reverse layup.
//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsIguodala followed that up with a trey from the right corner, but as we mentioned, Evans immediately followed that up within seconds with a layup from the left side. Also, Dante Cunningham came off the bench for Asik to counter Warriors head coach Steve Kerr‘s usual first-man-off-the-bench sub of Speights, and Cunningham delivered a couple of unexpected baskets, including a long jumper. Speights once again didn’t seem on-point, as he let Ryan Anderson leak for a corner three, making it 29-26 with 1:04 to go, and upon which Kerr immediately called timeout. The Pelicans took a 31-28 lead into the second frame, led by Holiday’s 10 and Evans with 9. That nullified Curry’s 13 and Klay’s 6. New Orleans was ahead 18-6 on points in the paint, an indication of the Warriors troubles stopping Evans and Holiday’s drives.
2ND QUARTER: Andre Alive!!!
Iguodala continued to be in the groove in the 2nd quarter, helping the Warriors pull ahead, but Harrison Barnes suffered a mouth laceration early in the second frame, trying to guard Cunningham in the post. The skills-lacking Cunningham turned with the ball and was called for an offensive foul as his elbow knocked into Barnes’ head. There was blood and the Warriors called for the trainer JoHan Wang to come out immediately. Barnes was listed by the team as “questionable” to return, receiving stitches in the mouth. After a turnaround jumper by Anderson, Iguodala got his own turnaround with a hand in his face. With 6:28 to go and a long rest for Curry, Steph finally came back in, fed Thompson for a three and got his own, while Iguodala drained another jumper, a three, then got an early-offense dunk in the face of Luke Babbitt. With 2:47 to play in the half, the Warriors were up 50-46 as Kerr called timeout. Right at that moment, Thompson received the ball open on the baseline in transition with two Pelicans back in the paint and drilled the shot. But Kerr had already called timeout. Kerr took a gamble inserting the athletic Justin Holiday into what seemed like an up-and-down game, and it would pay dividends. But first, Speights got a bucket on the “ATO” (after-timeout play) called by Kerr. After a Shaun Livingston dunk fed by Draymond Green, Holiday stole a pass and, on the fastbreak, got it to Livingston, who fed Holiday with an alley oop for the dunk. That made it 60-49. //platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Evans returned on the other end with a dramatic finish, getting a tough runner to go while on the way down on his leap. Curry couldn’t answer as he let the clock wind down, got a screen by Green to get the switch on by Anderson. Steph’s shot, a jumper going past Anderson, rimmed in-and-out.
The Warriors took a 60-51 lead into halftime. Curry led the Dubs with 15 points on 6-for-10 field and 3-for-4 downtown. Iguodala added a crucial 14 points on 6-for-8 field and 2-for-2 downtown, and Thompson chipped in 13 points on 5-for-8 field and 2-for-2 downtown.
Green added 8 rebounds, 4 assists, while Festus Ezeli, playing in place of Bogut, had 6 rebounds. Evans led New Orleans with 15 points, while Jrue Holiday added 13.
However, Green picked up a technical arguing a foul that was not called on Curry’s buzzer-beater attempt, during the rebound.
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