Warriors vs. Pelicans: Score, Highlights and Reaction from 2016 Regular Season
The sky is no longer falling for the Golden State Warriors, who bounced back from their season-opening blowout loss with a 122-114 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.
Golden State's Big Three of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 81 points and 17 assists. Durant had 17 defensive rebounds for good measure.
Per SportsCenter, for all the good things the Warriors did last season, Durant accomplished something no one on that team was able to do:
Durant showed off his defensive chops during the game's final minute as the Pelicans were trying to fight their way back with this block against Anthony Davis, via the NBA on ESPN:
Even though the Pelicans have started the season 0-2, Davis has looked like a man playing against middle school boys. The three-time All-Star had 45 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
Per ESPN, Davis has done something in the first two games of the season that has only been accomplished one other time in the past 50 years:
However, Zach Harper of CBS Sports humorously pointed out Davis' scoring average for the season went down:
Davis did set the bar high with 50 points in the season opener against the Denver Nuggets, so there was essentially nowhere for him to go but down. Maybe one day he will be able to find the consistency to get that average back up to 50.
Durant did get the best of Davis on that one play late in the fourth quarter, but New Orleans' superstar was beating double-teams all night.
The NBA on ESPN has some of the highlights from Davis' impressive night:
The problem for the Pelicans, both through two games and moving forward, is they don't have anyone else for opposing teams to be concerned with. Tim Frazier has benefited from all the attention on Davis, and he dropped 21 points and dished out 10 assists against the Warriors.
Russ Bengston of Slam posed a fair question regarding Davis and the Pelicans:
As long as Davis can stay healthy, he makes the Pelicans must-see television every time they play. It's going to be a long season for the franchise due to the lack of options around him, but the 23-year-old continues to improve.
The efforts of Davis and Durant overshadowed everything from the game, but Curry did not come out of the win empty-handed.
Per the Warriors' public relations staff on Twitter, Curry shattered Ray Allen's mark as the fastest player to reach 1,600 career three-point field goals made:
This game was a perfect microcosm of what this season should look like for both teams. The Warriors are going to be an offensive juggernaut led by Durant, Curry and Thompson, with Draymond Green and Zaza Pachulia giving them an attitude and swagger on defense.
The Pelicans will struggle to win games, but Davis is on the shortlist of best players you need to see on the court each time he's in the lineup.
Post-Game Reaction
Dante Cunningham had the best summary of what Davis is doing right now.
"It’s like watching someone play NBA2K," Cunningham said, per Jim Eichenhofer of NBA.com. "You just hit ‘X’ and he makes every shot."
To his credit, Davis was not in a celebratory mood after another outstanding game because his team is struggling to find ways to win.
"I'm just frustrated that we're right there every time and we have some mental breakdowns," Davis said, per William Guillory of NOLA.com. "We're playing hard, we're playing with a lot of energy. We've just gotta find a way to execute better down the stretch."
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was not completely pleased with the way his team performed, though he was happy to walk away with a victory.
“For the most part, we played hard,” Kerr said, per Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News. “But we had some breakdowns where we kind of just stopped and looked at each other. I think it was more lack of communication that led to a couple of defensive breakdowns.”
Per Slater, Durant discussed his all-around effort for the Warriors:
The Warriors are still working to find their chemistry with Durant now in the fold, but his presence and determination on both sides of the ball will be a perfect fit for the uptempo style they prefer to play.
