NBA scores: Draymond Green leads Warriors past Pelicans

When the shorthanded Golden State Warriors crushed the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night, it came after a terrible first quarter. The Dubs turned things on after that quarter and apparently didn’t turn things off when the game ended.

The Warriors and Pelicans met again on Wednesday night for the “baseball series” we’re all still getting used to. And Golden State picked up right where they left off, even with Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins and De’Anthony Melton back on the sidelines.

With Lindy Waters III in the starting lineup, the Warriors’ spacing looked good early, even if the shots weren’t falling at first. But the Warriors set the pace on the defensive end, with Moses Moody clamping down on Brandon Ingram while Draymond Green completely shut down Zion Williamson. The Pelicans tried repeatedly to run the offense through Williamson, but to no avail. Eventually, defense began to lead to offense as the Warriors found some rhythm. They turned the ball over five times in the frame, but still led 28-20 when the buzzer sounded.

After scoring the first four points of the second quarter to take a commanding 32-20 lead, the Dubs took their foot off the gas and the Pelicans rattled off a 10-run run, forcing a Steve Kerr timeout. The timeout didn’t do much at first, as the run turned into a 16-2 New Orleans advantage, with the Pelicans again taking the lead. However, the Dubs didn’t go down without a fight as they put the game to a half with elite defensive possession after elite defensive possession. The teams went back and forth, with a Buddy Hield hitting three that gave Golden State a 48-44 advantage at halftime.

And then the Third Quarter Warriors appeared. Once again, the Warriors rode an elite defensive performance by Green against Williamson, opening the third quarter on an 11-2 run and building a comfortable lead. And from there they never looked back. The defense forced bad shot after bad shot and turnover after turnover, and they held a comfortable 79-66 lead entering the final frame.

Golden State posted a shutout for more than two minutes to start the fourth quarter, though their own offense didn’t do much. Soon the 13-point lead became a 16-point lead, and then it became a 20-point lead as the final score became more and more clear. New Orleans made a late push but never got closer than 12 points, and the Warriors finished with a 104-89 victory to sweep the series and start the season 4-1.

Hield went on the court with 21 points, but it was a total team effort, especially on the defensive end. A day after allowing Williamson and Ingram to score 61 points, the Warriors — led by Green, Moody and Jonathan Kuminga — limited those two All-Stars to a combined 26 points on 10-for-31 shooting with six turnovers. With CJ McCollum, Dejounte Murray and Trey Murphy III all injured, New Orleans simply didn’t have the offensive firepower to match Golden State’s stellar defensive showing.

With a brilliant first week of the season in the books, the Warriors are now off to a tough test. They get two days of rest before starting a five-game road trip that begins Saturday vs Houston Rocketsand has a stop against the defending champion Boston Celticsas well as arguably the best team in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Hopefully Curry, Wiggins and Melton will return for those games. And hopefully the Dubs keep the good times rolling.