The Warriors extended their winning streak to five games with a 125-107 victory over the visiting New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.
The Warriors extended their winning streak to five games with a 125-107 victory over the visiting New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night. The birthday boy Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 27 points and five assists. Draymond Green recorded another double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, as all 12 players in uniform managed to score. With the win, Golden State improves to 60-6 on the season.
GAME LEADERS
On a day in which he was named Western Conference Player of the Week, received the Player of the Month award for February and turned 28 years old, Stephen Curry celebrated his birthday by leading a third quarter explosion that turned a close game into a blowout. New Orleans controlled the play early, taking a 12-8 lead halfway through the opening quarter on Alonzo Gee’s dunk. Curry would tie things up at 20-20 with his first three-pointer of the game with 2:43 left in the frame before scoring the Warriors’ final four points of the quarter to give Golden State a 28-24 lead at the end of one.
After Brandon Rush’s three-pointer put the Warriors up 40-34 just over four minutes into the second quarter, the Pelicans immediately responded with an 8-0 run to retake a 42-40 advantage. However, that would prove to be their final lead of the night, as the Warriors closed the quarter strong and then ran away with the game in the second half. After Anthony Davis scored six-straight points for New Orleans to cut Golden State’s lead to 50-48 with 2:46 remaining in the half, the Warriors reeled of nine-straight points to build a double-digit lead. Jrue Holiday’s layup proved to be the final points of the half, as the Warriors took a 59-50 advantage into halftime.
Upon resumption of play in the second half, the wheels began to fall off for New Orleans. The Warriors scored the first six points of the third quarter to begin a 21-8 run over the first eight minutes of the frame, turning a tightly contested game into a foregone conclusion. A minute later, Curry began to put his final stamp on the game. He sank two free throws to stretch Golden State’s lead to 25 with three minutes left in the frame before draining three more three-pointers in the final 1:45. The final of those treys found the bottom of the net with 3.6 seconds remaining on the clock, ending his night and sending the game into the fourth and final quarter with the Warriors holding a commanding 94-69 lead.
Marreese Speights hit back-to-back jumpers in a span of 32 seconds to put Golden State up 100-71 with 10:47 left to play, giving the Warriors their largest lead of the entire night. Ian Clark became the 12th and final dressed member of the team to score in the game with a layup five minutes later to make the score 113-85 in favor of Golden State. The Pelicans would chip away at the deficit throughout the remainder of the quarter, but they had dug themselves a whole far too deep as the Warriors coasted to the 125-107 victory. With the win, Golden State improves to 60-6 on the season, and in doing so, becomes the ninth franchise in NBA history to post back-to-back 60-win campaigns. They’ll play the final game of their current six-game homestand on Wednesday when they host the visiting New York Knicks.