© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
OAKLAND – On Halloween, the Warriors were well-prepared to avoid a potential spook by the quietly talented New Orleans Pelicans. While the Pelicans stayed with the Warriors beat-for-beat for much of the game, the Warriors continued to score the ball at a ridiculous rate that’s impossible for most teams to match.
The Warriors notched their sixth-straight win with five players in double-digit scoring to beat the Pelicans 131-121. Here are three thoughts from tonight’s game:
The Warriors handled AD, but Damian Jones didn’t
Antony Davis had just 7 points in the first half and finished with 17. Yet, Damian Jones committed two fouls in the first three minutes and was immediately subbed and failed to make much of an impact on the game. Jones picked up his third moments after being subbed back during the second half.
Despite what was an underwhelming defensive performance from Jones, Davis had one of his least productive performances in recent memory. He went just 6-for-16 from the field, finishing with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. Granted, that’s an extremely productive night, but not by the standard of an MVP candidate in 38 minutes. A few of his buckets also came late in the game, and failed to affect the outcome or momentum. It’s why, despite the margin, it never felt like a particularly close game.
Curry continues hot streak
Steph Curry is the hottest player in basketball. He leads the league in scoring and has not scored less than 23 points in a game. That 23, by the way, came in just 25 minutes on Monday as he deferred to Klay Thompson, who broke Curry’s single-game three-point record. Even as Thompson hit 14 threes, Curry went 7-of-9 from the field, and 7-of-7 from the free throw line along with 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block.
Monday night is the only time Curry has scored less than 29 points in a game this season.
Tonight, he finished with 37 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and went 7-of-11 from three. Everyone is used to Curry putting up ridiculous numbers, but these’s nights of 5-plus threes of better than 50 percent shooting are becoming absurdly routine. Curry even played in the fourth quarter tonight, something that seems to be even rarer than one of his insane shooting nights.
He entered the game 48-of-93 from three. After crossing the 100 3-point-attempt mark tonight, Curry is 55-of-104 on the season. That’s a 52.88 percentage from behind the arc. He is simply not a normal human being.
Jonas Jerebko, secretly athletic?
Jerebko is a player who seems older than 31. That’s not a knock on his talent. He’s proven himself incredibly valuable by spacing the floor, providing a defensive presence in the paint and working within the offense to move the ball. Tonight, Jerebko was the second player off the bench for Steve Kerr.
In the first of his 17 minutes tonight, Jerebko pulled off a chase down block like a Swedish LeBron James. Then, in third quarter, he picked up a loose ball and sent a behind-the-back pass to Kevin Durant like a 6’10” Steve Nash.
After he committed a foul against Julius Randle, Kerr argued with the referees, as did Jerebko, who picked up a technical foul. On the ensuing offensive possession, Jerebko grabbed an offensive rebound from a missed Curry three and drained a pair of free throws after an off-ball foul.
He finished the game with 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a pair of threes, while shooting 50 percent from the field.
