![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Stephen-Curry-Warriors-facing-play-in-gauntlet-after-crucial-loss-to-Pelicans.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Dubs won three rounds of the bout, jumping out to an early double-digit lead in the first quarter before out-scoring the Pelicans in both the third quarter and final stanza. New Orleans\u2019 utterly dominant second quarter ultimately proved a knockout blow, though, sending Golden State stumbling to 10th in the Western Conference entering Sunday\u2019s regular season finale.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Warriors fell 114-109 to the Pelicans, their long-shot comeback hopes ending for good when Stephen Curry\u2019s leaning, potentially game-tying three-pointer between the neverending arms of Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III clanked off the rim with 10 seconds remaining. Murphy grabbed the ensuing defensive rebound, then calmly drained both free throws after a hopeless Warriors challenge proved unsuccessful, sending the home team to a deflating defeat.<\/p>\n
Behind another fourth-quarter scoring splurge from Curry and Draymond Green\u2019s outstanding individual defense on Zion Williamson, Golden State stayed competitive throughout the second half. But this game was lost far before the final buzzer sounded, when New Orleans delivered a 45-22 haymaker in the second quarter, taking full advantage of the Warriors\u2019 whopping nine turnovers while splashing threes from all over the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur turnovers killed us. We had really good control of the game in the first quarter, held them to 17 [points], our defense was great. And then we just started turning it over,\u201d Steve Kerr said after the game.. \u201cI thought [Jose] Alvarado came in, put a lot of pressure on the ball and we couldn\u2019t execute offensively. They scored 15 points off our turnovers in that quarter alone. That\u2019s where the game flipped, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pelicans shot 10-of-13 from deep in the second quarter alone, with C.J. McCollum and Murphy combining for eight of those makes\u2014many of which came with a defender right in their face, from multiple feet beyond the arc or both. The Dubs were outscored by 27 points on triples as New Orleans went 20-of-38 from deep, swallowing a dose of their own medicine after setting an NBA record for three-point proficiency in Tuesday\u2019s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cTough shots,\u201d Kerr said of the Pelicans\u2019 hot shooting night. \u201cI thought our halfcourt defense was great tonight. Our guys were flying out at shooters. Give them credit\u2014they made some really tough shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the modern NBA, you know? We made 26 threes in LA the other day; they made 20 tonight,\u201d he continued. \u201cIf a team gets hot from three it\u2019s really hard to win a game. They made seven more threes than us, but it was the turnovers that led to transition that got them going. You could see that\u2019s where they started to pick up their confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Warriors-Stephen-Curry-vs.-Lakers.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Curry finished with 33 points, four rebounds and five assists, nearly willing his shorthanded squad\u2014Jonathan Kuminga and Gary Payton II missed Friday\u2019s game with minor injuries\u2014to another victory late. The overwhelming Clutch Player of the Year frontrunner dropped 16 points and four threes in the fourth quarter despite turning his right ankle with five-and-a-half minutes remaining, a sequence that resulted in his seventh and final turnover.<\/p>\n
Typically magical as he was late, the 36-year-old clearly wasn\u2019t himself against the Pelicans while playing yet another high-leverage game on the second leg of a back-to-back. The Sacramento Kings\u2019 last-second loss to the Phoenix Suns Friday night kept the Warriors\u2019 slim hopes of nabbing the eight-seed alive, but Kerr seemed most interested in getting his veterans some extra rest in Sunday\u2019s game against the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, hell yeah,\u201d he responded when asked if he was considering resting players in the season finale. \u201cI mean, you prefer to stay at home, but if you look at what we\u2019re facing, it\u2019s a gauntlet. You got two play-in games, and then if you win those two, you got a Game 1 48 hours after that. I\u2019m much more interested in our ability to be ready for next week, but we\u2019ve gotta wait and see how everything shakes out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kerr, to be clear, made those comments before he knew the slumping Kings had suffered yet another defeat. If the Lakers lose to the Pelicans\u2014who may need another win to stay above the play-in fray\u2014and Sacramento somehow falls to the lowly Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, all Golden State needs to do to finish eighth in the West is beat the rebuilding, decimated Jazz.<\/p>\n
A morose Klay Thompson admitted on the postgame podium that squandering a golden opportunity to avoid the 9-10 play-in game \u201cstings a lot.\u201d Asked his thoughts on potentially getting some extra rest ahead of what will be a very brief or physically exhausting postseason run, though, the 34-year-old seemed amenable to Kerr\u2019s suggestion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the worst thing in the world considering we\u2019ve played a hectic schedule this last month with a ton of travel,\u201d he said of sitting out vs. Utah. \u201cSo, it wouldn\u2019t be the worst thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Dubs won three rounds of the bout, jumping out to an early double-digit lead in the first quarter before out-scoring the Pelicans in both the third… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1406,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions\/1406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}