SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors with Stephen Curry have hardly put the fear into the eyes of NBA defenses this season. Without him, they have been the league’s least-threatening offensive group and did little to shirk that reputation in the first half Saturday against the Western Conference’s lowliest team.
They missed shots, and then missed some more, and were well on their way to their lowest scoring output of the season. But only one team’s point total was still below triple digits when the final buzzer sounded, and it wasn’t the hosts, who found the bottom of the net just in time to secure a 104-96 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Golden State trailed by as many as 10 points and was down 88-87 with 4:02 to play but scored 12 straight points to seal a win in the first game of what is expected to be at least a week without Curry as he heals from a left quad strain. In his absence, five Warriors scored in double-figures, led by 24 from Jimmy Butler, who also secured a double-double when he dished his 10th assist of the night to Gary Payton II for one of his three baskets during the run.
“We got stops … and we just got the ball to Jimmy,” Draymond Green said of what unlocked the Warriors’ offense during their 17-8 run to close the game. “Jimmy obviously draws a lot of attention when he drives to the basket, and Gary was able to find the open spots.”
Brandin Podziemski sank a 3-pointer to give the Warriors the lead for good, 90-88, and finished with 15 points, six assists and five rebounds. Payton contributed seven of his 19 total points during the decisive run to close the game — including a pull-up 3 that made it 99-88 — and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds for his first double-double since the 2021-22 season.
“Gary was one of the keys to the game,” coach Steve Kerr said. “His activity level, his defense, working underneath the basket. And he knocked down a 3 that was kind of the killer shot. … Gary’s got a great feel for working the dunker spot, working behind the play, creating these openings. He’s just got a great feel.”
Listed as questionable, Jonathan Kuminga went through pregame warmups and was cleared to return after missing the past seven games with bilateral knee patellar tendonitis. He started and ended the game on the bench but drained both of his 3-point attempts after halftime and finished with 10 points in 19 minutes.
The scoreboard hanging over center court malfunctioned and kept both teams’ totals at zero until late in the first quarter, which should have come as a relief to both offenses. The Warriors missed 13 of their 14 looks from beyond the arc, and the teams combined to shot 13-51 from the field, a paltry 25.5%.
Golden State opened an early 13-7 lead but allowed New Orleans to answer with a 22-6 run. Despite holding a 42-38 lead at intermission, it amounted to the fewest points the Warriors have taken into the locker room this season — just one more than their season-low in scoring for any half.
After shooting 2-of-21 (9.5%) from 3 in the second half of Wednesday’s loss to Houston, Golden State connected on just two of its 22 attempts from 3 in the first half against the Pelicans (9.1%). They amounted to the two worst shooting performances the team has had under Kerr when attempting at least 20 shots from distance.
The ball began to find the basket more after intermission, and the Warriors finished with a 40.9% clip from the field (12-of-47 from 3) while holding their opponents 37.2% from the field — and to 7 of 30 (23.3%) on 3-pointers. And whether or not their shots were falling, they accomplished the top imperative Kerr stressed before the game, limiting themselves to only nine turnovers.
“I liked a lot of the shots; they just weren’t going in,” Kerr said. “If you take care of the ball and you get shots on goal, it just sets the game up. your transition defense is better, it gives you a chance to get offensive boards. The game, it didn’t feel that rhythmic, but it felt clean. The shots will start going in.”
The Warriors’ only salvation was the equally dreadful New Orleans offense — and Butler’s persistent attacks at the basket. All seven of Butler’s makes from the field came inside the paint, and he made it to the foul line 14 more times, which he converted into 10 points, but he sent a scare through the arena when he fell hard to the floor attempting to convert a lob pass in traffic from Pat Spencer late the first half.
Undercut by his defender, Butler fell directly on his left side and was slow to get up but eventually returned to the game. The Warriors survived another injury scare when Will Richard returned to the game in the third quarter after heading into the locker room and spending the remainder of the first half with his midsection wrapped in a heating/cooling pad. He seized up and grabbed his right side while attempting to corral a defensive rebound early in the second quarter.
Making his return to Chase Center, where he played the final five years of his decade-long tenure with Golden State, Kevon Looney was greeted by a compilation of his highlights over the years and an extended standing ovation before tipoff. After not playing during the Warriors’ win in New Orleans earlier this month, Looney entered for the first time toward the end of the first quarter and finished with four points and five rebounds in 11 minutes.