RECAP: Black Falcon Rises As The Warriors Blast New Orleans Pelicans, 112-85

ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is continuation of the halftime recap from #Roaracle of the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans.

3RD QUARTER: The Black Falcon Rises

The Warriors continued their onslaught at the beginning of the second half as the Pelicans had little to answer. Draymond Green started things off with a three-pointer. Klay Thompson followed that up with his own trey, and Green got a fastbreak layup after Stephen Curry stole a bad pass from Jrue Holiday.

Harrison Barnes then went strong on a putback of an Andrew Bogut missed layup.

Then on an ensuing baseline inbounds set, Curry inbounded the ball to Barnes on the opposite corner baseline. Barnes caught the defense off-balance and the “Black Falcon” rose in an empty lane for a two-handed sledgehammer throwdown.

Curry was already celebrating by the time Barnes had lifted off. New Orleans head coach Monty Williams called timeout and it was 67-48, Warriors, with 7:04 to go in the quarter.

The Pelicans went on a mini-run to pull to within 15 points, 72-57, with 3:48 to go, after John Salmons made a three-pointer and a running jumper with the shotclock winding down (and the Warriors playing great defense), and Austin Rivers got a soaring dunk off of a fastbreak following a Curry turnover.

But the Warriors turned the game right back around after Iguodala made a no-hesitation jumper from the right elbow via a pass from the high action from Curry, followed by an uncontested finger roll layup by Curry after he turned the corner from up top.

Marreese Speights and Iguodala connected on two consecutive cuts to the basket and the Warriors were up by double-digits, 80-66, at the end of three quarters.

4TH QUARTER: No Outside Shooting, No Chance… For Pelicans

The fourth quarter epitomized the basic difference between the Pelicans, albeit a talented squad, and the Warriors. Aside from Davis, New Orleans just had no way to score on the stingy, collapsing Golden State defense, while the Dubs utilized an arsenal of weapons on the other end.

Some highlights for the Warriors:

• Another Barnes dunk, this time assisted by Shaun Livingston.

• Speights even got a lefty hook to go against the long arms of Davis.

• Iguodala swarmed Ryan Anderson, who lost the ball, and Leandro Barbosa glided in for the 2-on-1 fastbreak conversion. That gave the Warriors a 20-point lead, 88-68.

• Thompson made a cross-court pass to find Curry on the left wing for a trey, giving Golden State a 95-78 lead with 5:20 to go.

• Curry got one of a couple of steals playing Holiday one-on-one. Curry then delivered a fastbreak bullet to Barnes who soared in for another layup. At that point, the fans at #Roaracle started to file out, with a 17-point lead and 3:57 to play.

• Curry got his 10th assist on a slam by Andrew Bogut, to a defeated Pelicans’ defense.

• Curry’s last steal against Holiday resulted in a behind-the-back lefty pass from the top to Klay on the right wing, trey swish. Curry had his hand up in celebration before the ball even splashed through the net. It was 107-82 and the Pelicans were more than cooked. They were deep-fried.

Golden State routed New Orleans, 112-85.

Thompson scored 23 points to lead the Dubs. Curry added 19 points, 11 assists, and Barnes contributed 17 points. Green led the team with 14 rebounds.

The Pelicans were led by Davis with 30 points. Holiday was the second-leading scorer for the Pelicans at 12 points, 8 assists. Omer Asik grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds. Tyreke Evans turned the ball over a team-high 7 times.

The Warriors shot 47% from the field while the New Orleans shot 41.6%.

After their win, the Warriors are now 16-2 and the Pelicans fall to 8-9 after their loss.

Follow @poormanscommish