This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Warriors took a 55-43 lead into the third frame.
3RD QUARTER: Pelicans Fight For A Comeback
The Pelicans kept their playoff hopes alive with a 10-0 run to start the quarter. Even as Andrew Bogut swatted an Omer Asik dunk attempt for his 8th blocked shot of the night, Asik got a putback of a missed Eric Gordon layup, Anthony Davis drilled two jumpers from the right side, both assisted by Tyreke Evans, and Asik drew two consecutive fouls on Bogut guarding him. Bogut actually accrued 3 fouls in a span of 51 seconds.
That sent Bogut to the bench with four personal fouls, replaced by Marreese Speights. The Warriors held a slim 55-53 lead with 9:00 to go.
The Pelicans kept the pressure on, as Quincy Pondexter made a layup from the right baseline over Klay Thompson, Davis forced Speights into an airball and drew two free throws on the other end in the right block against “Mo”, and Davis slammed home a missed layup by Evans that went too hard off glass and iron.
The Warriors kept plugging away, though. After Klay missed a dunk attempt, Harrison Barnes blocked Evans, Omer Asik blocked Curry, but Draymond Green — who else? — got the ball in the middle of a mini-scrum and found Barnes wide open under the hoop for a dunk.
After Green got a layup on a cut assisted by Curry, New Orleans won a mini-three-point-shootout. Gordon drilled a triple from the deep right wing to give the Pelicans a brief 62-61 lead, but Green came back with a trey on the left side, only to be one-upped by Pondexter from beyond the arc on the right elbow, Evans’ 5th assist.
The quarter ended with each team making counterpunches.
Green took a missed shot by Gordon in the lane coast-to-coast, dishing to Speights at the last moment for a layup.
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After Davis missed a jumper, not something he did much all night, Curry dribbled down the lane, found a pick from Speights, then dribbled out, only to pass it right back to the open Mo down low for an easy two.
Speights followed that up with a one-handed righty putback from the left side of the board, after Leandro Barbosa missed a layup, and the Warriors got as far ahead as 72-67 with 3:21 to go, but that didn’t last long.
The Pelicans fought back, as a Curry overhead pass got deflected by Evans, who was rewarded with a touchdown pass and finger roll on the run-out assisted by Pondexter.
Gordon then awaited the swing pass from the deep right elbow from Evans and drilled the three-pointer on the catch. The game was tied, 72-72, with 2:09 to go.
There would be only one missed shot heading into the final frame as Barbosa made a jump pass to Speights in the block for a bucket over the smaller Gordon, Evans went hard right over Andre Iguodala for a banker, Dante Cunningham swished a jumper, Iguodala got a layup down the left side (Curry’s 7th assist), Draymond took Cunningham from right to left into the lane for a layup, and Davis closed out the period with a left elbow swish over Green with 2.8 on the clock.
Green missed a running trey over Davis at the buzzer, and New Orleans took a 79-78 lead into the fourth quarter.
4TH QUARTER: Chef Rims Out!
The Pelicans got a little separation against the Warriors’ bench unit, which had trouble scoring aside from a Shaun Livingston “show-and-go” hesitation move that beat New Orleans backup point guard Toney Douglas off the dribble, as well as a high-off-backboard scoop from Barbosa.
It was only when the starters came back in when the buckets came back for both sides, as Gordon crossed Thompson right to left and got a bucket to drop over Bogut, pushing the Pelicans’ lead to 90-82 with 6:07 remaining.
But Green made a clutch runner with the shotclock winding down and New Orleans head coach Monty Williams called timeout with a 90-84 lead with 5:36 left.
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Curry returned and Bogut blocked Asik once again, Andrew’s 9th block of the night, and Draymond took advantage as he slipped towards the hole on a pick-and-roll with Steph and slammed home two points to cut the Pelicans’ lead to 90-86 with 5:15 to play.
After an airball jumper in which Davis made an upfake that Green did well to avoid close-out contact against, Curry faked a stepback, then took Davis right to left into the lane, gave a little nudge to create space, and toilet-bowled the runner just over Brow’s arms.
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Klay finally made a bucket as he curled around a Green screen up top and drained a triple as the Warriors closed the gap to 92-91 with 3:51 left. Thompson was now at 1-for-9 shooting for the game.
Asik made a bad screen getting his arms entangled with Iguodala, then Steph stepped back against two Pelicans, only to pass off to Draymond at the top again, who then lasered a pass down to Bogut as Davis had to close out.
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With 3:19 remaining, Golden State took a 93-92 lead and Williams called another timeout.
Out of the timeout, Gordon lost a pass to Klay, Green got the loose ball and fired a touchdown rocket to Curry, who did well to corral it, put on the brakes before hitting the baseline, and tossed in a reverse layup before any Pelicans showed up in time.
But that 95-92 lead would be the Warriors’ last of the game.
After Pondexter got a catch-and-shoot from the left corner assisted by Gordon, Golden State committed three straight turnovers.
Thompson got the ball up top and, instead of passing it off to Draymond nearby, decided to do a pirouette towards the basket. The problem was, he left his pivot foot on the step and was called for traveling.
Tyreke then stole a horrible pass by Draymond, but the Warriors escaped damage as Ryan Anderson missed a spin fade at the high post against some good defense by Klay.
But Curry followed that up on the ensuing early offense by coughing it up, dribbling off his foot as he tried to get his body in front of the pursuit of Pondexter.
Davis capitalized as Evans dribbled down the left side, fed Davis, who up-faked, attacked, and drew an and-one on Bogut as the bucket dropped.
Just like that, New Orleans seized the lead, 99-95, with 2:38 to go, after Davis converted the free throw. Kerr took a twenty-second timeout, leaving him with two full timeouts remaining.
On the ensuing inbound, with Speights in for offense in place of Bogut, Curry made a fade route going around a high pick from Thompson, but his three-pointer hit not only back-rim, but also hit the rim twice more on the fall of the ball. Speights did his best to get a hand on the rebound, but the referee whistled him for wrapping his hands around Cunningham, who would make one of two free throws, giving the Pelicans a late 8-0 run and a 100-95 lead with 1:12 left.
Kerr took another timeout and Green turned the corner on Davis for a layup on the ATO play.
After Davis back-rimmed a jumper, Curry got a step-back triple to drop over Pondexter with 35.6 seconds remaining, successfully converting the two-for-one play and tying the game at 100-100. Williams called timeout.
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On the next New Orleans possession, Iguodala deflected a pass from the right wing to up top from Anderson. The ball was loose and both Iguodala and Pondexter were on the chase. Iguodala tip-toed the left sideline and Pondexter dove for the ball. The referee thought the ball was last touched by Iguodala, replays were inconclusive, and the Pelicans escaped a turnover with just 9 seconds left on their shotclock, 21.2 to play.
Iguodala was undercut by Pondexter during the chase and couldn’t believe there wasn’t a foul called, or that the referee gave the ball to New Orleans.
still rollin into the Playoffs with the No. 1 seed tho pic.twitter.com/7kKpfZq7gS
— julie 🐈 (@juliephayer) April 8, 2015
Evans then got the inbound, tried to crossover Iguodala right to left after crossing halfcourt, but tripped over the ball and his own foot in doing so, falling to the ground. Andre did a little reach-in in the process, but replays showed he avoided contact with Tyreke, but Evans was still awarded with the whistle and two free throws.
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Evans made the first and missed the second way short, the ball getting tipped out of bounds by Cunningham. Kerr burned his last timeout and drew up a play for Steph.
Curry then took the inbound and drove inside, but his teardrop shot rattled in and out and Davis got the ball with 9.0 seconds left, up 101-100, and got fouled by Green immediately. Davis hit both free throws to take a 103-100 lead.
With no timeouts and the Pelicans not yet in the penalty, Steph got fouled by Pondexter after the inbound. With 7.8 to go on the next inbound, New Orleans surprisingly did not foul, and Curry dribbled up court, got a solid screen from Green, which put Cunningham in front of Steph’s dribble.
Curry didn’t launch from the extra deep right side, however, and instead sort of lost of the ball while re-thinking a shot. But no one attempted to retrieve the loose ball, so he picked it up and finally launched at the buzzer, from about thirty feet away.
The ball went in and out as the horn sounded, and the Smoothie King Center crowd celebrated the Pelicans’ must-win victory, which got aided by a blowout of the OKC Thunder by the Spurs.
Curry finished with 25 points on 9-for-18 field, 5-for-8 downtown, with 9 assists and just 2 turnovers, while Green added 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists. Bogut had 9 blocked shots and 8 rebounds. Klay, who scored just 6 two nights ago, was stuck in single-digits again with just 7 points on 2-for-10 shooting.
Davis led the Pelicans with 29 points, 10 rebounds, while Evans had 12 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals.
The Warriors (63-15) will now fly home for the final four games this upcoming week.
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