Golden State Warriors fail to complete Game 3 comeback vs. Pelicans
The Golden State Warriors just didn’t look like themselves in Game 3, failing to stop the dominant New Orleans Pelicans on Friday at the Smoothie King Center.
The reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors simply didn’t perform like the reigning NBA champions on Friday, losing 119-100 to the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center.
The Dubs got out to a frustratingly slow start in The Big Easy, allowing the Pelicans to drop 30 points in the first round. The Warriors answered with a 35-point second quarter, but they failed to make a difference on the defensive end of the floor.
New Orleans came right out of halftime firing on all cylinders, recording yet another 30-point third quarter while limiting Golden State to a mere 19 points. Despite an early comeback attempt by the Warriors to start the fourth, the Pelicans just proved much too determined to win on their home floor, successfully closing out the night 27-25.
With this win, this second round series between the Dubs and the Pels s goes from a dominant 2-0 lead for the Warriors to a 2-1 split. Although New Orleans may still be behind in the standings, Friday’s victory may be just enough of a motivating factor to help shift the momentum in their favor.
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Friday night in New Orleans
Klay Thompson was the leading scorer for the Golden State Warriors on Friday, pacing the Dubs with 26 points on 9-of-22 shooting from the field, 3-of-9 shooting from behind the arc and a surprising 5-of-5 shooting from the free throw line.
He also had seven rebounds and one assist, but he recorded a game-low -25 in 36 minutes.
Kevin Durant was a -24 in 35 minutes, posting 22 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. He shot 8-of-18 from the field and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe, but he continued to struggle from long range, going 1-of-6 from three.
Stephen Curry didn’t exactly build on his strong postseason debut last Tuesday, tallying 19 points, six rebounds, two assists, four steals and two blocks in 29 minutes. While he ended with a versatile stat sheet, he failed to pull off one of his patented takeovers, which ultimately played a factor in Golden State’s sloppy offensive effort.
Draymond Green notched a near triple-double on 11 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in 36 minutes.
Next: McCaw making progress recovering from back injury
As always, be on the lookout tomorrow morning for my analysis of this Game 3 loss.