Gary Payton II saves Warriors from considerable embarrassment vs. Pelicans originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Injury-diminished New Orleans was the perfect opponent for the Warriors, who on Saturday were taking their first tentative step into the expected brief void created by the absence of Stephen Curry.
One of six teams destined to blow past the 60-loss mark, the Pelicans are profoundly vulnerable but were plucky enough to drag the Warriors into “clutch game” territory.
The Warriors emerged victorious, 104-96, but coach Steve Kerr and his staff will be blessed with plenty of video sure to leave various members of the roster palming their faces.
Three days after Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler III blistered the team for its polite approach to defense – which showed signs of improvement – their offense spent most of the evening trying to survive spells of self-suffocation. AKA, the No Steph Syndrome.
The Warriors on this occasion were rescued by Gary Payton II, who came off the bench and pulled his teammates to a win that spared them loads of embarrassment.
“He was amazing,” Kerr said. “Gary was one of the keys to the game, just his activity levels, his defense obviously working kind of underneath the basket, freeing himself up for some layups, and then obviously knocked down the three. That was kind of the killer, the killer shot.”
Payton, who left the game Wednesday night against Houston with a bum ankle, was cleared Saturday before tipoff and submitted the fourth double-double of his NBA career and first this season, with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and a dagger triple with 57.7 seconds that gave the Warriors a 99-88 lead with 57.7 second remaining.
Moreover, the 6-foot-2 utility man grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds and the displayed the level of smarts, spirit and determination Green and Butler were pleading for during their separate postgame harangues.
“Gary, he’s hella smart,” Butler said. “Gets the ball where a ball needs to go, guards at a high level, rebounds the basketball and just plays the right way. When he’s open, he shoots the ball when he’s not, he passes it. I think we all can learn a lot from him.”
It took a full half before the Warriors showed any ability to find buckets. They scored 17 points, shooting 24 percent from the field, including 7.1 percent from deep, in the first quarter, ticking up to 25 points in the second quarter, shooting 43.5 and 12.5 percents.
As bad as the offense was early, Golden State’s defense wouldn’t allow the Pelicans to take advantage. Both teams shot 33.3 percent from the field and nine percent from beyond the arc before halftime.
“If you take care of the ball and you get shots on goal, it just sets the game of your transition defense is better,” Kerr said. “It gives you a chance to get offensive boards. The game didn’t feel that rhythmic, but it felt clean. We weren’t turning it over, making mistakes, and that’s important, the shots will start going in.”
The chemistry between Payton and Butler, beginning late in the second quarter, was crucial to making the offense blossom in the second half. Payton scored 12 points in the quarter on 6-of-6 shooting, mostly working near the rim.
“Just playing behind the defense, being an outlet and making layups,” Payton neatly summarized.
“Jimmy draws a lot of attention when he’s driving to the rim, and Gary was able to find all the open spots in their defense,” Draymond Green said. “He was great cutting, rebounding the basketball, which was incredible. He did a great job of playing behind the defense, and Jimmy’s always looking for the open man. If you’re open, he’s going to throw that pass every time. And G was open, and he found him four or five times.”
Butler finished with a team-high 24 points and a game-high 10 assists, five of which were dimes to Payton. They were responsible for restoring the heartbeat of the offense, as the Warriors in the second half scored 62 points on 48.9 percent shooting from the field, including 40 percent from distance.
There was some defensive slippage by Golden State, but not enough to give the game to the Pelicans.
There will be at least two more games without Curry, beginning Tuesday at Chase against the obnoxiously good Oklahoma City Thunder, followed by Thursday in Philadelphia against the 76ers, who are 10-8 despite Joel Embiid and Paul George missing a combined 26 games.
The Warriors will be off on Sunday before coming into Chase to practice and study video on Monday. They’ll spend less time reviewing the Pelicans than previewing the Thunder, who give their every opponent reason to palm its collective face.
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