One game after pouring in 32 points off the bench, Jordan Poole couldn’t find the hoop. He had one point on 0-for-10 shooting with 90 seconds remaining in the game.
Then he twirled inside for a bucket. One-for-11. The Warriors turned on the full-court press, and Poole drilled 29-foot 3. The press worked again, and rookie Jonathan Kuminga came up with a steal and score. The Pelicans’ 10-point lead turned to three with 51.5 seconds left.
Even without Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, Golden State fought after 47 minutes of sludge. It just wasn’t enough. The Warriors desperately needed Poole to get hot, but his late game surge came too late. With Poole largely iced out, Andrew Wiggins (21 points) was the only Warrior in double figures for the first 35 minutes of the game.
Meanwhile, Brandon Ingram and rookie Herb Jones paced New Orleans in a back-and-forth slog. Poole finished with 11 points on 3-for-14 shooting as the shorthanded Warriors dropped both games of their road trip back-to-back, 100-93.
Here are three takeaways from GSW’s second consecutive loss.
The Warriors: worse without their two best players
As uncharacteristically consistent as Andrew Wiggins has been, as explosive as Jordan Poole has been, as electric as even Klay Thompson can be, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are Golden State’s two best and most important players.
So without them, of course Golden State struggled.
Especially on offense, the Warriors didn’t look like the Warriors with Curry and Green on the bench. It took five and a half minutes for the Warriors to score five points to start the game. GSW scored two points in the first three minutes of the second half.
There was a lot of Kevon Looney and many more discombobulated halfcourt possessions than usual. Without the spacing Curry provides, four-on-three opportunities were rare — as were ping-ping-ping drive-and-kick ball movement sequences.
It’s not an insult to say the Warriors didn’t look like the Warriors without Curry and Green; it’s to be expected. For much of the game, before the last minute display of heart, Gary Payton II winning a jump ball over seven-footer Jonas Valanciunas was the highlight. And that’s okay.
Herbert Jones impresses
The rookie out of Alabama swarmed everywhere on the court against the Warriors. He showed active hands, a smooth outside stroke and quick, decisive rotations. He skied for rebounds in traffic, rattled the rim in transition and caused several deflections.
Though Jones is smaller and more of a wing than Draymond Green, they both spent four years in college and were never the leading scorer on their squad. They were both selected with the 35th overall pick, with perceived question marks surrounding their size and athleticism. They can both affect a game without taking many shots.
There’s an entire article on Fansided’s Pelican Debrief website about the similarities between Jones and Green.
Comparing young, defensive-minded “tweeners” to Green has become somewhat of a cottage industry come Draft time. It’s become a cliché. Herbert Jones is not Draymond Green. In reality, nobody is. But Jones nonetheless recorded 13 points, 6 rebounds and five steals, including a key swipe against Wiggins late in the fourth quarter that led to free throws.
Slowing down Ingram
The Warriors still had a plethora of wings in Wiggins, Payton II, Jonathan Kuminga and Andre Iguodala to throw at Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, but the rangy slasher still had his way.
He used his size to back down defenders into the post and snake through the paint. Most of Ingram’s damage came in the midrange; His baseline jumper with 2:25 left in the game put the Pelicans up 10 and effectively ended Golden State’s hopes.
In all, Ingram finished with 30 points on 12-for-20 shooting, plus 11 rebounds and six assists.
Ingram’s success against the depleted Warriors is perhaps the biggest example of how vital Green is to Golden State’s defense. Although Green likely wouldn’t have guarded Ingram much one-on-one, the Warriors missed his rim protection and defensive rotations. There, and occasionally on the defensive glass, was where Green’s absence hurt GSW the most.