The Warriors lost a crucial game to the New Orleans Pelicans. The sowed that loss in the second quarter, and despite a heroic effort, they could never recover.
Her are three takeaways from a 114-109 loss that might send the Warriors to Los Angeles, or Sacramento.
A devastating second quarter
The Warriors missed chances in the first quarter. The Pelicans didn't miss any in the second. That, in so many words, was the game.
Golden State held the visitors to just 17 first-quarter points. But an avalanche was coming in the second.
Part of that was spurred by sloppiness. Stephen Curry had to carry the Warriors in the fourth quarter in Portland on Thursday night, without the help of Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. You knew he'd be a little gassed for Friday's game, and it showed.
The Warriors turned it over nine times in the second quarter, and Curry had five of them.
The Pelicans turned those into 15 points, and an unceasing barrage of 3-pointers. After going 1-of-8 from deep in the first quarter, they went 10-of-13 in the second. It was largely C.J. McCollum and Trey Murphy III, the latter of whom seemed unable to miss on a 17-point night (8-of-12, 6-of-9 from 3-pt).
A commendable effort, but not enough
With Curry stumbling through the second, the Warriors needed a spark. They came out of the half with a couple quick buckets, finally got a stop against C.J. McCollum (and a couple against Zion Williamson), and Andrew Wiggins went to work. His tornado move had the Pelicans in a blender, and we're not talking about their home court Smoothie King Center.
They came out of the half with a 12-2 run.
Throughout this entire game, the Warriors played great defense against Williamson. Green deserves much of that credit. He shut down Williamson early, though Williamson responded with his own defense, and a career-high 6 steals, along with 26 points.
They got it down to five points. Then Trayce Jackson-Davis got an offensive rebound, a trip to the line, but missed both. Andrew Wiggins would have put in his miss, but was called for a foul. Then Herb Jones hit a 3-pointer, and the Warriors were down by 10. Then Trey Murphy, outrageous all night, hit another. Warriors down by 13.
Moses Moody also hit a few shots. But McCollum wouldn't stop scoring. They ended the third still down 13.
At that point, Curry went tit-for-tat with Williamson, who went on a 5-point run.
But at some point, Curry appeared to turn his ankle, then turned the ball over. The Warriors fell back to 9-point deficit. Curry somehow responded with a 3-pointer, but then Murphy, hot all night, hit another balloon 3-pointer to move the Pelicans' lead to nine yet again. Out of the timeout, Herb Jones got wide open to hit a 3-pointer with about three minutes to go. The Pelicans were 19-of-37 from deep at that point. It's hard to beat that.
But Curry made a layup, hit a contested, step-back 3-pointer, and cut it to a 7-point deficit. Then he got a stop against McCollum, and drove again to cut the deficit to five. Then a strip from Thompson on Williamson. That led to a couple free throws for Andrew Wiggins. He was 8-of-10 from the line, and borderline heroic.
With 1:24 remaining, it was 109-106. Somehow, the Warriors, despite a seemingly unbeatable barrage of 3-pointers, were in it. But they allowed Dyson Daniels to regain possession after a missed floater, and McCollum responded with a brutal 3-pointer against Curry. McCollum finished with 28 points on 8-of-13 from range.
But Curry hit one of his own over Daniels. It was comical. He was contested, on a bad ankle, and cut it back to a 3-point game.
With 40 seconds left, and eight on the shot clock, the Pelicans called timeout. They went to McCollum, then to Williamson, who drew a foul on Green to get a fresh 14 seconds. Williamson missed.
But Curry lost the plot and threw up an insane 3-pointer that missed. Murphy got fouled by Wiggins despite a Warriors' challenge, leaving Golden State without any timeouts, and a 5-point deficit. That was it.
Trying to beat a team that went 20-of-38 from deep (52.6 percent) is borderline impossible.
The play-in ramifications
The situation, as it stands, is that the Warriors are heading for the 9/10 game.
The question now is whether they will host it, or head down to Los Angeles. The Lakers beat the Grizzlies, which means the Warriors need a win over the Jazz and a Lakers loss against the Pelicans.
If the Suns beat the Kings (96-93 Kings lead at the time of writing this story), there could be a Warriors-Kings matchup coming. A Suns loss would clinch the 6th seed for the Pelicans, and leave them with nothing to play for on the final day.
A Kings loss would leave the Warriors locked into the 9 or 10 seed. In order to get to the eighth seed, the Warriors need to beat the Jazz. They need the Kings to lose to the Suns, then lose again to the Trail Blazers. They would also need the Lakers to lose to Pelicans on the final day.
All of this will become clearer with the result of the Suns-Kings game.
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