This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the New Orleans Pelicans.
3RD QUARTER: Taste The Apple! (Turnovers)
The Warriors started with Harrison Barnes back, despite the stitches in the mouth, and Draymond Green with both nostrils plugged up. Barnes also had the right nostril stuffed.
Golden State started the second half nicely, as the Pelicans turned it over and the Dubs made them pay with a layup by Festus Ezeli, thanks to a touchdown assist by Stephen Curry off the bat:
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Curry followed that up with a laser to Ezeli on the slip, and Festus got fouled and made both free throws. Curry got an early three again, to make it 77-67 with 6:34 to play, but once again, Tyreke Evans beat the Warriors down the court and got two free throws after being fouled at the rim.
Klay Thompson scored a layup in the paint on a nice attack, then a three from the right corner assisted by Curry. But things started to fall apart as Pelicans center Jeff Withey got the slip on a pick-and-roll and dunked it, then Ezeli got called for a three-second violation not realizing that Iguodala was still surveying the situation as he drove baseline.
It was the second time in the game where Ezeli had shown his rust, particularly in being on the same wavelength with his teammates. Earlier in the first half, he had once again and for the third time in as many games, not seen a ball coming to him while setting a pick.
New Orleans then went on a 13-0 run as Ryan Anderson made a three, Withey capitalized on another slip, and Evans streaked downcourt. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout, down 83-82, with 3:17 to go in the third, but on the “ATO” (after-timeout play), Holiday jumped Iguodala’s set pass to Curry in the right corner, Curry committed a left-handed turnover on a bad dribble, and Evans got a putback from a ill-advised Jrue Holiday step-back long two.
On that sequence, Iguodala got an ugly shot off, bricking against Anderson and clamoring for a foul, as Evans attacked early in transition yet again, missed it, then stole the rebound from an unattentive Marreese Speights. Evans had 23 points on 10-for-16 from the field at that point.
The Warriors also committed 6 turnovers in 9 possessions, but the Warriors woke up as Shaun Livingston got a one-handed fade, assisted by Speights, then both played pickle again as Livingston drove hard left and found Speights trailing in the paint, who finished nicely with the left.
The game was tied 89-89 heading to the fourth. Evans and Holiday had 23 and 20, respectively, to negate the #SplashBrothers 43 points as well. Curry had 22 and Thompson 21. However, the Warriors had, by now, committed 14 turnovers and still had no answer for Evans.
4TH QUARTER: Speights’d By Cunningham But Draymond Defense Forces Overtime
Pelicans head coach gave Evans a brief rest but brought him back with as much as 9:39 to go. Meanwhile, Kerr rested Curry while leaving Thompson in. Livingston took advantage of his height advantage over the Pelicans’ point guards, going strong in the post. //platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
But New Orleans power forward Dante Cunningham came up big for the Pelicans, finishing a layup from a Holiday assist. After the Splash Brothers committed consecutive turnvoers, an Evans three-pointer gave New Orleans a 105-96 lead, but Thompson answered that immediately with his own three.
Williams called a timeout and Cunningham got another jumper to go, assisted yet again by Holiday, then the same formula was repeated, giving the Pelicans a 109-108 lead with 2:04 left.
Curry was able to draw fouls and that helped the Dubs trade leads, then made a huge defensive play, drawing a charge on Cunningham outside the circle under the basket, after Cunningham had passed Speights. Curry then missed, but Speights got the clutch putback in traffic, giving the Warriors a 110-109 lead with 1:34 to go.
Trailing 111-110 with 49 seconds to play, Evans took a shot that rimmed off and over the basket, allowing Kerr to call timeout to set something up.
Speights again got an offensive rebound, as Kerr elected to go with an “ATO” play involving Iguodala, as Green penetrated and dished out to Iguodala who missed the three. However, Speights only made one of two free throws to knot the game at 111-111.
The Pelicans went with Evans again as he drove hard left on Iguodala, past Andre, but Green reached in cleanly and knocked the ball out of bounds. On the ensuing baseline out of bounds play, the Warriors forced New Orleans to throw the ball in on the fifth second of the inbound count. Thompson leapt for the ball at halfcourt but missed and soon, Anderson found himself with a three-pointer from the left elbow. But somehow, Green managed to get there in time and blocked Anderson’s attempt.
Kerr went with high action with Green and Curry for the buzzer-beater, and Thompson got the ball from Green on the elbow and faded, but missed with 2.5 seconds left. The Pelicans called timeout, but Evans’ try from thirty feet went way off the backboard.
It was overtime at 111-111.
OVERTIME: Curry Gets Warriors Off On Right Foot And They Don’t Look Back
Curry got the first bucket of overtime, shaking his way to the right elbow, then Green went pick-and-roll with Curry and found himself defended by Anderson, so Green took it hard right hand and scored an and-one against the immobile “stretch four” shooter.
With Iguodala on Evans for a good portion late in the game, Evans beat Iguodala to the rim but Andre fouled him and Tyreke only made one free throw.
Curry then did high pick-and-roll action and got a rhythm three on the dribble to go over the switched and helpless Cunningham.
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Williams had no choice but to call timeout, suddenly down 119-112 with 3:27 to go in overtime.
Iguodala and Green then combined to play some championship-caliber defense on Evans, with Iguodala bothering Evans and Green coming over for the block, then getting the steal as Luke Babbitt tried to corral the rebound unsuccessfully.
Iguodala pushed the action down the floor and forced Evans to foul him at the rim. Evans had fouled out, a huge downer for the Pelicans.
After Holiday attacked and got two free throws, Curry answered, dribbling from right to left beyond the arc, stopping, pivoting, and drilling the three.
After that, Williams had no choice but to take the ball out of Curry’s hands by sending Jeff Withey to double Steph, but Curry got the pass to a cutting Green and it was 125-114 with 2:11 remaining.
Even with Curry committing his sixth turnover and Iguodala missing a reverse layup, as well as a beautiful, high teardrop in the paint from Curry that went in-and-out, aside from Holiday, the Pelicans had no punch left in them. Anderson’s airball from three-point land that Iguodala caught with 24.9 seconds left, near the baseline, was the nadir to New Orleans’ otherwise strong performance tonight.
The Warriors won, 128-122, in overtime. Their sixteenth straight win.
Curry scored 34 points to lead the Dubs. Thompson added 29 points and Iguodala contributed 20. Green led the team with 13 rebounds. Curry passed off for a team-high 7 assists.
The Pelicans were led by Evans with 34 points and 8 rebounds. Holiday was their second-leading scorer with 30 points and 9 assists.
Golden State shot 51.2% from the field while New Orleans shot 46.5%. The Warriors committed 19 turnovers, but their defense saved them tonight.
After their win, the Warriors are now 21-2 and the Pelicans fall to 11-12 after their loss.
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