The New Orleans Pelicans faced the Golden State Warriors for the second time already this season, and unfortunately fall again with a score of 134-120.
The game was close for the entirety of the first half. The Pelicans welcomed back Luke Babbitt, Omer Asik, and newly acquired Toney Douglas. Unfortunately, they still couldn’t escape the injury bug, as Kendrick Perkins went out early in the game with a pectoral strain, never to return. It was nice to have more familiar faces in the rotation, and you could tell that everyone else was happy about it as well. The execution was a lot crisper and the spacing was better with floor spacers like Babbitt and Jrue Holiday in the game. The Pelicans ate the Warriors on the offensive glass, pulling down 11 boards on that end in the first half. Neither defense could get a stop, and the New Orleans Pelicans led 65-64 at halftime.
Unfortunately for the New Orleans Pelicans, Steph Curry plays for the Warriors, and for some reason he just doesn’t like being nice to the Pelicans. The Pelicans hung in there, but when Curry has it going like that, there isn’t much you can do. The Pelicans were able to put points on the board against a stout Warriors defense, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to overcome the MVP and his team. The New Orleans Pelicans lost again to the Warriors, 134-120, dropping to 0-3 now on the season.
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MVP: Jrue Holiday
I know that Anthony Davis had a big game, but Jrue was awesome tonight. His pace and handle are so smooth and the Pelicans offense goes super stagnant when he sits. He is the only consistent ball mover and creator that the team has right now with Tyreke Evans out due to injury. Steph is no push over on defense, and Jrue was constantly making him work with hesitation dribbles, in-and-outs, and using his body to create space. The Pelicans need him to continue to create offense for them at a high level if they want to be successful. If he can shoot a little better (he shot a mediocre 8-19 from the floor), then they will be closer to their ceiling.
LVP: Omer Asik
While it was nice that Asik was back, he didn’t quite seem like he was in game shape yet. He is a slow guy to begin with, and he was having an even harder time getting up and down the floor and sitting in a stance. He had a terrible net rating of -12 in just 10 minutes and was the reason why the Warriors were getting lots of easy buckets in transition. When he is 100 percent, Asik is miles better than Alexis Ajinca, so it would be nice to get Asik back into his normal form.
X FACTOR: Luke Babbitt
This may seem like a weird one, but Babbitt played heavy minutes and was able to make the spacing a lot more accommodating for players like Jrue Holiday who likes to get in the paint. Babbitt’s box score numbers weren’t anything special, but just the threat of him possibly being a shooter opens things up. This just goes to show that adding even one more player who can space the floor is big for this team going forward.
TURNING POINT: Steph went unconscious again
This is the second game in a row that Curry just went bonkers on the Pelicans. No player in the league has had a better start to the season than the reigning MVP. After pretty good first half, Steph went crazy in the third, scoring 28 points and pushing the Golden State lead out to double digits. This guy is just unreal, man.
DEFINING MOMENT:
This was the sum of the Pelicans second half.
Next: Austin's observations from the first two games
That was… BETTER
The defense is still a trainwreck, giving up 134 points in four quarters of basketball. There are several problems they need to work with on that end, but the offense is very encouraging to see. Having guys like Jrue, Luke, and even Omer Asik back will help with the familiarity and in the case of Luke and Jrue, the creativity and floor spacing. Hopefully they can get the defensive end figured out a little better before Tuesday night’s contest against the Orlando Magic.