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Postgame wrap: Warriors 134, Pelicans 123

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After three straight tightly-contested losses in Week 1 of the NBA regular season, New Orleans was only in the hunt for about a quarter Monday, as Golden State rolled to its first victory. The Pelicans didn’t play well at either end of the floor, turning in their lowest percentages so far in shooting the ball and defending, prior to a too-late, fourth-quarter surge.

The task of trying to crack the win column was made even tougher earlier in the day, when Jrue Holiday and Derrick Favors were both ruled out due to a knee sprain and knee soreness, respectively. Josh Hart made his second straight start in place of Holiday, while Jahlil Okafor moved into the center role for Favors.

Golden State, which may not have All-Star guard Klay Thompson for the entire 82-game schedule, took advantage of New Orleans’ short-handed lineups and rotations, building a 20-point first-half lead. The Warriors were never seriously threatened after intermission.

“They outplayed us in every phase of the game,” Alvin Gentry said of the Warriors. “It wasn’t a very good effort all-around. In the first three games, I thought we played well and gave ourselves an opportunity to win. Tonight, we were never in the game.”

IT WAS OVER WHEN…

Golden State’s Damian Lee drained a right-wing three-pointer with two-plus minutes left in the third quarter, giving the Warriors their biggest lead at 93-67. Golden State led by four after one period, but broke it open by virtue of a 76-56 edge in the middle quarters.

PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME

Brandon Ingram did what he could to try to keep New Orleans within shouting distance in the first three quarters, finishing with team-bests in scoring (27) and rebounding (10), to go with his six assists in 31 minutes. In his NBA debut, Jaxson Hayes produced some highlights and quality moments, reaching 19 points overall, mostly during the fourth quarter.

BY THE NUMBERS

61-41: Golden State rebounding edge. The Warriors collected 19 offensive rebounds.

12/22: New Orleans foul shooting, which equates to a poor 55 percent.

15/47: Pelicans three-point accuracy, at 32 percent their lowest rate of the young season.

#WEEKLYREVIEW

On Sunday and Monday gamedays throughout the season, we’ll be asking fans to vote for their Pelicans Player of the Week from the previous seven-day period. After a stellar first three games in a New Orleans uniform, forward Brandon Ingram was the runaway winner, garnering 80 percent of the votes. Ingram led the Pelicans in scoring by a substantial margin, putting up 27.3 points per game against Toronto, Dallas and Houston. The other nominees this week were also part of the summer trade with the Lakers: Josh Hart (11 percent) and Lonzo Ball (9 percent). Hart was a consistent factor both as a reserve and fill-in starter, while Ball showed off some of his versatile game – scoring, dishing, rebounding and collecting steals. Twitter user @Fednajonathon put it well by writing of Ingram, “Is this a question? (Player of the Week) was that 6-9 point forward out of Kingston, N.C. It’s not even close.” From @eugenejohnson_: “It’s obviously Ingram but the fact that we can see positive results from all of the Lakers acquired in the AD trade is amazing. I think it’s only up from here because all of the players were injured during the summer. Still getting their legs.”

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