Pelicans at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are off to the best start in franchise history and are staring down their longest winning streak ever. The Warriors will try to match the 1971-72 squad for the longest streak in history by taking their 11th when they host the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday. The streak was in jeopardy against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday until Stephen Curry buried a go-ahead 3-pointer in transition in the final seconds.
The Pelicans snapped a three-game slide and pulled back to .500 with a 112-104 home win over Oklahoma City on Tuesday and are opening up a three-game California road trip with Golden State. “We just have to remind ourselves how it feels to win, and take that into this road trip,” New Orleans star Anthony Davis told reporters. “We’ve just got to be consistent and realize what we do best. We can't try to outscore teams. We’ve got to defend, rebound and run.” The Warriors can defend, rebound and run as well and have held eight of their last 10 opponents under 100 points.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE PELICANS (8-8): Davis put up 25 points and 10 rebounds on Tuesday but was overshadowed by Tyreke Evans, who moved over to the shooting guard spot to make room in the starting lineup for Luke Babbitt and responded with a season-high 30 points on 14-of-24 shooting. “I was in attack mode,” Evans told reporters. “I was in a zone. Once you get in a zone, you feel like no one can stay in front of you.” Evans has scored 18 or more points in three of the last four games.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (15-2): Curry and Klay Thompson scored all the points in a game-ending 14-4 run that helped Golden State overcome a nine-point deficit against the Magic. “(Curry) bailed us out,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “It took a lot of individual brilliance down the stretch to bail us out, but what I told the team was we had to have that because we didn’t play as a team for the rest of the game.” That has not been the norm for Golden State, which leads the NBA in point differential behind an offense and a defense that both rank among the most efficient in the league.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors have taken seven straight in the series and Curry averaged 24 points and 9.3 assists in the three meetings last season.
2. New Orleans G Austin Rivers is 2-of-16 from the floor in the last three games.
3. Golden State F Draymond Green suffered a sprained thumb on Tuesday but returned to the game after X-rays were negative.