TNT Double Header Oct 29th: NOP Vs. GSW
The New Orleans Pelicans traveled to San Francisco to face off against the Golden State Warriors in the second matchup of TNT’s tuesday night double-header on the 29th. The Warriors went into this game being ridden with injuries as Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins were both out of the contest for the Warriors. But the Pelicans are dealing with their own injury bug as Dejounte Murray will be out for a month with a broken hand that he suffered during the first game and Trey Murphy, who is still dealing with a hamstring strain.
The Pelicans took advantage of not having to deal with Curry and his constant off ball movement and took a 20 point lead in the first quarter. Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson are the catalyst of the Pelicans offense and they both work very well in tandem with one another. Meanwhile, the Warriors couldn’t seem to buy a basket and struggled mightly to get an offensive flow going, and ended up going into the second quarter down 31-14.
It was the second quarter where the game really started to take shape. The Warriors gained momentum off a couple timely threes and forcing multiple turnovers on the pelicans. Buddy Hield has been phenomenal thus far for the Warriors and has filled in for the loss of Klay Thompson very well. But the presence of Lindy Waters III was the X-factor for the Dubs offense tonight. He started taking control in the second scoring 9 points on 3/4 shooting, with a tre ball to go with it. Meanwhile the Pelicans took a page out of the Warriors playbook from the first quarter and struggled to get their offense going. New Orleans production continued to come from Williamson and Ingram as they scored 34 of the Pelicans 51 first half points. The Pelicans still maintained a lead going into the half up 51-47.
The second half was much more a continuation of the 2nd quarter. Lindy Waters, Brandon Podziemski and Jonathon Kuminga were the driving force of this quarter and helped the Warriors go on a 19-6 run in the middle of the quarter. And more offensive struggles from the Pelicans as the lack of spacing became a major issue and the momentum had clearly shifted over to the Dubs side of things. Going into the 4th, the Warriors lead 87-79.
If there was ever a sign to show that this game was over, it was Buddy Hield’s fourth quarter. Hield went 6/8 from the field, 4/4 from 3, with a total of 19 points. At this point the Pelicans had conceded the game and were not able to get anything going for the rest of the game, and the crowd was fully back into it and so was Curry on the bench. The Warriors ended up winning 124 to 106.
For the Warriors, this was a great test. How would they respond to their star player going down with an injury. They responded with great spacing, ball movement, and unselfish basketball. Steve Kerr is able to adjust so well with the players has is given, and help put them in the best position to succeed. The Warriors ended up with 5 players all scoring 17+ points, and shooting 45% from 3. If that is not a winning formula, then I don’t know what is.
For the Pelicans, it was the turnover margin and the lack of offensive production outside of B.I. and Zion. The two accounted for 61 of the 106 points for the Pelicans, and no one else scored in double digits. The lack of Dejounte Murray and Trey Murphy really hurt their spacing capabilities and it showed tonight. Cj McCullom shot 2/8 from the field and Jordan Hawkins shot 0/6. These are two players who are crucial to the spacing for this team, and if they aren’t hitting their shots, it will be a rough spot for the Pels. And the loss of Jonas Valanciunas is becoming ever more present due to their lack of interior defense.
The next game comes tonight (October 30th) against one another, again in Golden State.
