Pelicans at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are inching toward history while the supposedly up-and-coming team they met in the first round of the playoffs last season floats toward the bottom of the standings. The Warriors will try to take advantage of the slumping New Orleans Pelicans and reach 60 wins when they host the final meeting of the season between the teams on Monday.
The Warriors extended their NBA record to 48 straight home wins with a 123-116 triumph over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday despite missing reigning NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, who suffered a sprained ankle in Friday’s win over Portland and will miss two weeks. Golden State clearly missed Iguodala in Saturday’s game and had to overcome a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull out the win. The Pelicans fell in four games to the Warriors in the first round last spring and looked like a team on the rise built around star forward Anthony Davis, but injuries and inconsistency under new head coach and former Golden State assistant Alvin Gentry have the team headed for the lottery. New Orleans has dropped seven of its last eight games and is 0-3 to begin a five-game road trip after falling 103-92 at Milwaukee on Saturday.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN New Orleans, CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (24-41): The rough stretch over the past eight games has crushed any lingering hope for New Orleans to make a late run at a postseason spot and the team doesn’t seem to have enough to get over the hump in close games. “I thought the effort was there,” Gentry told reporters after Saturday’s loss. “We had some bad turnovers. Once again we’re talking about being able to make a run, and you can’t make a run to get even, you have to make a run to create a little separation.” The Pelicans have dropped five straight road games and are 7-26 away from home.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (59-6): Golden State remains on pace to break the record for wins in a season and can always lean on Stephen Curry, who scored 15 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter on Saturday. Iguodala’s responsibilities on the second unit are being spread around the roster, and Shaun Livingston occupied his spot in the small-ball lineup with Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes on Saturday while Marreese Speights took the opportunity to do more scoring and ended up with 25 points in 18 minutes off the bench. The Warriors are still only 3 1/2 games ahead of San Antonio in the Western Conference and will face the Spurs three times over the final 17 games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pelicans F Ryan Anderson is 5-of-28 from 3-point range in the last five games.
2. Barnes is 0-of-12 from 3-point range in the last five games.
3. Curry averaged 46.5 points in a pair of wins over New Orleans in October, including 53 at home on Oct. 31.