The Golden State Warriors are still working out some minor kinks.
But in a 122-114 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, the defending Western Conference champs used a formula that will prove to be their most lethal weapon moving forward: Kevin Durant + Steph Curry + Klay Thompson.
Durant scored 18 points in the first half, Curry scored 13 in the third quarter, Thompson added 28 total points and the three-headed monster was enough to overcome a ferocious fight from Anthony Davis Friday at the Smoothie King Center.
Quietly, Thompson appears to be the player that’s changed the least in this Warriors offense. He took a team-high 21 shots and still has one of the quickest trigger in the league. Zaza Pachulia was much more comfortable on the floor adding 10 points and 11 rebounds, quieting any concerns about the team’s big man situation for now. Durant finished with 30, Curry had 23.
Again, the Warriors’s defense had trouble stringing together defensive stops, and the Pelicans took a 74-73 late in the third quarter. Part of that had to do with Davis, who has been the NBA’s hottest player to begin the season. He added 45 points, 17 rebounds and had two emphatic blocks on Draymond Green. New Orleans cut the lead down to six with just under a minute left to play.
As for those kinks, Green’s role on offense still is pretty unclear. He has the basketball much less in his hands as a distributor yet still managed 7 assists in addition to 8 points and 11 rebounds. And the Warriors still haven’t gotten comfortable shooting three-pointers yet, either. Golden State hit just 32.1 percent from downtown a season after averaging 41.6 percent. Curry, Durant and Klay combined to hit just 6-for-22 of their triples — Durant did not make one three.
Patrick McCaw sprained his left ankle right before halftime. It’s unknown the severity of the sprain but it leaves the Warriors with just Shaun Livingston and Ian Clark as the teams backup guards. Andre Iguodala added 9 points off the bench in 30 minutes.
Interestingly, Durant’s second quarter flurry came mostly while Curry was on the bench. He was a game-changer on the glass, grabbing 17 rebounds, which could be his new role.
The Warriors return to the court Sunday against the Suns in Phoenix. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.
