Warriors outlast exhausted Pelicans to take 2-0 series lead

Sometimes, life just isn't fair.

The New Orleans Pelicans scratched and clawed through myriad injuries to claim a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season. Their reward was a first-round matchup with the league's foremost juggernaut, the Golden State Warriors.

They also scratched and clawed without Jrue Holiday, with a banged-up Tyreke Evans and with an exhausted-looking Anthony Davis on Monday, doing what so few teams have been able to do at the far-too-loud Oracle Arena this season: They entered the fourth quarter tied.

And for nothing. The Warriors are the Warriors, and it's only so long before the machine is going to start working as designed. That was the fate that befell the Pelicans late in a disheartening fourth quarter, with the Pelicans being rendered ineffective on defense and completely helpless on offense.

The Pelicans shot 25.7 percent in the second half and a strong defensive third quarter was followed by a 47.8-percent shooting fourth quarter for the Dubs, with the Warriors eventually stepping on the gas to pull away for the 97-87 victory and 2-0 series lead.

Turning Point

The Pelicans had a great opportunity to steal one and had to be feeling terrific with a 71-71 score entering the fourth quarter and superstar Steph Curry due for his regular start-of-fourth rest.

But the Warriors' depth shone through, and Golden State opened the frame on an 8-2 run to finish 10-6 over the 4:12 that Curry sat. The Pelicans would fail to re-tie the game from there, despite a quiet Curry even once he returned.

Once Curry returned, the Pelicans hung around until Klay Thompson buried a three with 5:05 to play, the beginning of a 12-3 closing run.

New Orleans simply seemed to run out of gas, playing essentially with seven players and relying far too heavily on Davis (26 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals, two blocks), Eric Gordon (23 points) and Tyreke Evans (16 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) for a combined 125 minutes.

Through two games, the Pelicans have done a solid job keeping Curry as at-bay as could be expected (which, to be fair, is not very at-bay). He's dished 11 dimes over the series' first two games and scored 22 points on 9-of-21 shooting Monday, thanks in large part to Davis' defensive effort.

Someone had to step up with Curry having a quiet second half, and that was Thompson, who scored 14 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter.

Thompson shot 11-of-17 from the floor and 3-of-8 from outside, adding three rebounds and three assists. He punctuated his big night with what amounted to a dagger dunk:

None of this is to say that Curry had a bad night. He didn't, by any means, and the highlight reel remains property of Curry.

It started early, with Curry losing the handle only to recover and hit a ridiculous fadeaway:

He also closed out his eight-point second quarter with a late-clock, pull-up triple, now known as The Chef's Special:

Despite not scoring much late, Curry did dish the game's final assist, and it was magic, as usual:

And hey, let's give the Pelicans some love. Dante Cunningham had a great transition block, and here's Quincy Pondexter with a ridiculous layup and-one:

Game 1: Warriors 106, Pelicans 99 (Warriors lead 1-0)
Game 2: Warriors 97, Pelicans 87 (Warriors lead 2-0)
Game 3: Thursday, April 23, 9:30 p.m. ET
Game 4: Saturday, April 25, 8 p.m. ET
Game 5*: TBD 
Game 6*: TBD
Game 7*: TBD

Alternate Series at a Glance