D’Angelo Russell knocked down not one, but two clutch shots down the stretch of Friday’s 106-102 win over the New Orleans Pelicans at Chase Center.
After a 20-point lead in the first half turned into a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter, D’Angelo Russell tied the game with a side-step 3-pointer with 1:22 left in the game. And less than a minute of game action later, Russell put the Warriors in front for good when he hit a pull-up jumper in transition with 33 seconds left.
TEAM LEADERS
| GSW
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Russell – 25 | Burks – 8 | Green – 8 |
| Lee – 20 | Lee / Cauley-Stein – 7 | Russell – 7 |
| Burks – 18 | Chriss – 5 | Burks – 3 |
| NOP
|
||
| Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Ingram / Holiday – 25 | Favors – 10 | Ingram – 6 |
| Redick / Ball – 14 | Holiday – 8 | Holiday – 4 |
| Favors – 10 | Williams – 7 | Williams / Hayes – 3 |
Clutch free throws from Draymond Green and Damion Lee secured the win for the Dubs, who ended a five-game losing streak with a grind-it-out victory in the opener of a season-long five-game homestand.
Russell led the Warriors with 25 points, with 16 of those coming in the second half. Russell made the Warriors’ final four baskets of the game, accounting for 10 points in the last five minutes. Alec Burks added 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting and Damion Lee got the Warriors off to a hot start with 10 of his 20 points in the first quarter.
Draymond Green added 10 points and eight assists in the win, and his imprint was left all over the fourth quarter with some key made free throws and quality defensive stops. Green was 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, with all of those coming in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors as a team knocked down 24 of their 25 free throw attempts.
That the Warriors had to pull out the win in crunch time was improbable to say the least. The Dubs assisted on their first 13 made baskets and took advantage of several early New Orleans miscues to take a 20-point lead in the second quarter, but the Pelicans rallied in the second half. Brandon Ingram and Jrue Holiday keyed the comeback, finishing with 25 points apiece, and JJ Redick knocked down four 3-pointers in the third quarter.
New Orleans led by six with five minutes left, but Russell cut that deficit in half with his first 3-pointer of the quarter, a sign of his heroics to come.
Russell and the Dubs will look to nab consecutive wins when their homestand continues on Monday against the Timberwolves, a team that D-Lo torched for 52 points in a Warriors road defeat last month.
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More Notables …
- Golden State leads their season series vs. New Orleans 2-1, the series concludes on February 23 at Chase Center.
- On This Date In Warriors History: Nate Thurmond registered a West Coast franchise record 24 rebounds in a half (first half) in a 130-107 Warriors win at the Los Angeles Lakers in 1966.
- Tonight marked the Warriors’ 356th consecutive sellout, the fourth-longest active sellout streak in the league.
- Damion Lee scored 20 points on a career-high-tying four threes (on seven attempts), marking his third outing of 20-plus points this season (two coming against the Pelicans) while adding six rebounds… Lee has tallied eight threes and 46 total points in two games against New Orleans this season.
- Alec Burks notched his 12th consecutive game scoring in double figures with 18 points, grabbing a team-high eight rebounds in 30 minutes as a reserve.
- D’Angelo Russell recorded his seventh game this season scoring 25-plus points (game-high-tying 25 points), adding seven assists, one shy of his season-high mark (reached six times).
- Glenn Robinson III made his team-high 30th appearance in the starting lineup, the only Warriors player to see action in every game this season.
- Marquese Chriss posted eight points and five rebounds.
- Eric Paschall left the game in the third quarter due to injury (right knee injury) and did not return.
