NBA: Warriors beat brave pelicans at curry comeback

For a long time, New Orleans Pelicans can balance Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors. In the final minutes, however, the individual class of the dubs decides the game – and an incredibly hot Stephen Curry! The Warriors win 121:116 (BOXSCORE).

Warriors coach Steve Kerr sent the same Starting Five on the floor as in Game 1 – so Stephen Curry, who had recovered, first took a seat on the bench and had to wait a few minutes for his comeback. Meanwhile, he watched his team off to a promising start with a crashing dunk from Andre Iguodala followed by a three-pointer from Kevin Durant.

However, the Pelicans were not impressed by this. New Orleans pressed extremely hard on the pace and sought to finish early in the shotclock in almost every attack – with success. The guests took a 23-16 lead in the middle of the first quarter, while Golden State started out of the field at 4 out of 14.

But then came curry! Under the cheers of the Warriors fans in the Oracle Arena he entered the parquet after about eight minutes and hammered his first threesome right around the ears of the Pels. The dubs had fought their way back up to the end of the first leg, and in the second leg they continued in a balanced manner. No team could distance itself decisively (58:55 for GSW at half time).

So it went on also after the break tea. Although the Warriors got off to a better start in the second half, New Orleans quickly found the right answer by running 13-2. Accordingly, no team could gain a big advantage in the third heat. The game remained fiercely contested and characterized by a few, smaller nickels.

Then Draymond Green set the course for his colleagues with two consecutive threesomes to the start of the final section. Nevertheless, it took Golden State until the middle of the fourth quarter against the bravely fighting Pelicans to break away to 110:98 with the help of an 11-0 run and two butter-soft fade away jumpers from Durant.

A few minutes later Curry increased the lead to 13 points with his next three – but that shouldn’t have been the case for a long time. The Pelicans still did not give in and fought their way back into striking distance. After a triple by Anthony Davis it was suddenly only 113:119 from Pels’ point of view. But the Warriors didn’t give themselves any nudity from the free-throw line and won game 2 with 121:116.

Curry’s performance was outstanding, scoring 28 points and 7 rebounds in 27 minutes after a knee injury during his comeback. The Splash Brother pocketed 8 of his 15 throws from the field and 5 out of 10 from downtown. However, he was not the top scorer with this yield. Durant scored 29 points and also filled the statsheet with 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Meanwhile, Draymond Green just missed a triple double (20 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds).

At the Pelicans, the complete Starting Five, led by Davis with 25 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks, convinced. Holiday (24, plus 8 assists and 8 rebounds), Rajon Rondo (22, 12 assists), Nikola Mirotic (18) and E’Twaun Moore (14) also scored double-digit points. In the end, however, the fiercely fighting Pelicans were not rewarded for a very strong performance overall and are now looking forward to a 2-0 deficit.

Game 3 takes place in the night from Friday to Saturday in New Orleans.

Golden State Warriors v New Orleans Pelicans 121:116, Series 2:0 (BOXSCORE)

Stephen Curry. It almost seemed as if the Point Guard had never been away. There was no trace of rust on Curry that evening. Shortly after his substitution, he pocketed his first threesome, and a little later, almost from the midline – and hit! With curry on the court, the Warriors were +26. -21 without it!

Solomon Hill. Overall, too little support came from the Bank of Pelicans. Head Coach Gentry had little confidence in his reservists and was mainly relying on his starters. Hill stood on the parquet for ten minutes, but only hit 1 of his 6 attempts at field throwing and was otherwise only noticed by a flagrant foul.

The Ball Movement was already a recipe for success for the Warriors in game 1. And also on this evening Golden State convinced again once with strong passing play, which made open throws or simple dunks possible for the Dubs again and again. Especially in situations where the Pelicans tried to get Curry or Durant out of rhythm by double teams, the Dubs always found an open player. The 43 successful field goals were finally preceded by 36 templates. Also the Pelicans convinced with 33 assists.