New Orleans Pelicans vs. Golden State Warriors: Postgame Grades and Analysis
Stephen Curry scored 34 points, Klay Thompson added 21 and the Golden State Warriors survived a furious New Orleans Pelicans rally to win Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series, 106-99, at Oracle Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors led by as many as 25 points in the third quarter, but the Pelicans went on a 14-0 run between the third and fourth period to trim the lead to 11. Golden State then extended the lead back to 18, but New Orleans kept fighting and forced the Warriors to make free throws down the stretch to secure the win. At one point, the lead was cut to four.
The Warriors, normally a fine free-throw shooting team, went just 21-of-34 from the charity stripe and missed some big ones late, which helped keep the Pelicans afloat.
Still, Golden State built just enough of a cushion where it was able to hold off New Orleans' late charge.
Head coach Steve Kerr seemed happy his team got a taste of what a close, home playoff win feels like, per Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:
He also had high praise for Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut, both of whom recorded double-doubles, per the Warriors' official Twitter feed:
Anthony Davis led the Pelicans with 35 points, 20 of those coming in the final period.
New Orleans also played the entire second half without Tyreke Evans, who left the game in the first half with a knee contusion, according to Pelicans PR.
After the game, head coach Monty Williams was unsure of Evans' status for Game 2, per Sharief Ishaq of WDSU-TV:
The Warriors shot 46 percent and went 11-of-29 from three-point range. The Pelicans made only 42 percent of their shots and hit on nine of their 22 attempts from deep.
Game 2 is Monday night at Oracle Arena. You can catch the action at 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
| Anthony Davis | A |
| Tyreke Evans | Incomplete |
| Eric Gordon | C- |
| Jrue Holiday | D |
| Omer Asik | C- |
| Rest of Team | A- |
| Stephen Curry | A+ |
| Klay Thompson | C+ |
| Draymond Green | A |
| Andrew Bogut | A |
| Harrison Barnes | B |
| Rest of Team | D- |
New Orleans Pelicans
Anthony Davis: A
Davis single-handedly willed the Pelicans back into the game in the fourth quarter.
After starting out slow, Davis poured in 20 of his 35 points over the final 12 minutes. He drained jumpers, went to work in the post and finished around the rim.
Maybe he just needed to get the playoff jitters out of his system.
Davis went 13-of-23 from the floor overall and made nine of his 10 free-throw attempts. He was also a force defensively, blocking four shots. Most importantly, he kept the ball in play on his blocked shots.
The only downsides to Davis' performance was that he was a bit sloppy with the ball, turning it over five times, and that he just took too long to get going.
Tyreke Evans: Incomplete (injury)
Tyreke Evans' first career playoff game was short-lived.
Evans suffered a knee contusion in the first half and was forced to leave the game. He did not return.
Evans was very ineffective in 12 minutes. He scored only one point, going 0-of-2 from the field. Because of the injury, though, it seems unfair to give him a concrete grade.
Eric Gordon: C-
Eric Gordon struggled in the loss.
While he shot a solid 4-of-7 from three-point range, he had six of his seven attempts from inside the arc and committed five turnovers.
Gordon exhibited sloppy ball-handling and exerted a questionable effort on the defensive end, mainly in terms of failing to contest shots.
He scored 16 points.
Jrue Holiday: D
Jrue Holiday had a rough afternoon.
The floor general played 21 minutes off the bench and recorded five points and five assists. He went 2-of-7 from the floor and took some silly shots, firing up a couple of air balls.
Holiday also struggled a bit defensively, losing his man on occasion.
Of course, Holiday is still working his way back from an ankle injury. Maybe he'll get better as the series progresses.
Omer Asik: C-
Omer Asik looked lost for much of this contest.
Known as a stout defensive center, Asik got abused in pick-and-roll situations, and when he did get a chance to defend slashers at the rim, he made little impact.
There were several instances where Asik failed to even get a hand up, most notably on an Andrew Bogut post-up where Bogut easily put in a baby hook.
Asik tallied five points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes. He did make a couple of nice passes, but that was about it.
Rest of Team: A-
How about Quincy Pondexter?
You would not have expected him to be one of New Orleans' main sources of offense, but he was, tallying 20 points off 7-of-14 shooting, going 3-of-7 from long range. Plus, Pondexter added nine rebounds and six assists.
The only gripe I have with Pondexter's outing is his defense. Normally a fine defender, Pondexter had several lapses on that end of the floor, failing to rotate to contest slashers at the rim.
Norris Cole was effective, too. While he only went 3-of-10 from the floor, his grit and toughness helped the Pelicans get back into the game.
Golden State Warriors
Stephen Curry: A+
What more can we say about Curry?
Even on a day where his three-point shot wasn't falling (4-of-13), the MVP candidate still racked up 34 points off a 13-of-25 clip.
Curry used his quickness and ball-handling ability to consistently slice through the Pelicans' defense for easy buckets, and he finished some very tough layups. One of those layups included a fantastic finish in transition that left Kerr in awe, per Golden State's Twitter feed:
It was clear that Golden State's offense was not the same whenever he went to the bench, as evidenced by his plus-20 plus-minus.
Curry added five dimes and four rebounds in 40 minutes.
Klay Thompson: C+
Thompson scored 21 points, but he did not exactly do it efficiently.
Thompson went only 6-of-17 from the floor, missing some good looks. He also missed three free throws late in the fourth quarter, which briefly kept the Pelicans alive. He went 6-of-9 from the charity stripe overall.
Thompson did drain three treys, but you could tell he was not entirely engaged offensively. He also turned the ball over five times.
One thing Thompson did do effectively was draw attention. There were a couple of instances where defenders scrambled out to contest Thompson at the three-point line, only for the 2-guard to swing the rock around for a better shot.
Draymond Green: A
What an all-around performance for Draymond Green.
The Defensive Player of the Year candidate logged a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds and also handed out seven assists.
He was crucial to the Warriors' offensive efficiency, making pinpoint passes to cutters and helping spread the floor.
Green also did an admirable job on Davis in the first half despite the height difference.
Green went 5-of-12 from the floor overall and was a game-high plus-23.
Andrew Bogut: A
Bogut was terrific.
First of all, the big man provided a nice, unexpected lift offensively. He scored 12 points off 6-of-8 shooting, nearly doubling his season average of 6.3 points per game. He did a great job of finishing alley-oops in transition and worked the offensive glass (four offensive boards) for some garbage buckets.
Secondly, Bogut was dominant defensively.
His size and width alone was a significant deterrent to the Pelicans inside, blocking a pair of shots and altering plenty of others.
He totaled 14 rebounds and also added five assists.
Harrison Barnes: B
Harrison Barnes did what he had to do in this one, much like he has all season.
He did not try to do too much offensively. Instead, he spotted up on the wings and waited for kickouts from either Curry or Thompson. Barnes went 4-of-8 from the field, knocking down a couple of triples for 12 points.
He also did a nice job on the boards, hauling in eight rebounds.
Rest of Team: D-
Andre Iguodala gave the Warriors 31 mediocre minutes.
He did shoot particularly well, going 2-of-6 and missing three of his four attempts from downtown, but he did a decent job distributing the ball, handing out three assists and making the extra pass.
Iguodala finished with eight points and four rebounds.
Other than Iguodala, it was slim pickings for Golden State's reserves.
Shaun Livingston was largely ineffective in his 13 minutes, registering an ugly minus-21.
