Warriors 123 - 119 Pelicans
Final - OT
  for this game

Warriors, Pelicans clash in New Orleans

Apr 23, 2015 - 2:04 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The New Orleans Pelicans have been feisty against the Golden State Warriors and will try to pick up a win Thursday night when the series travels to the Smoothie King Center.

This is the first NBA playoff action in the Big Easy since April 28, 2011 when the team was the Hornets and was led by Chris Paul, David West and Emeka Okafor.

Now, the Pelicans belong to Anthony Davis. He propelled his team into the postseason thanks to a win in the regular-season finale against the red-hot, defending champion San Antonio Spurs.

During this series, the Pelicans have played the Warriors tough, but are down 0-2.

On Monday, Golden State prevailed, 97-87.

Klay Thompson scored 14 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to help the Warriors past the Pelicans. Thompson scored 12 of Golden State's final 16 points to lead a late charge that turned a one-point game into a double-digit win.

"I wasn't going out there to force anything," Thompson said of his fourth quarter. "Just trying to do what I do best."

Stephen Curry, who was held scoreless in the fourth quarter, finished with 22 points and six assists in the win. Draymond Green added 14 points and 12 rebounds for Golden State.

"This is the playoffs," Curry said. "No matter if we are at home or on the road we are going to get everyone's best shot... It will be a big swing game if we can go down there and take Game 3."

Golden State, which trailed by 11 after the first quarter, built an eight- point lead courtesy of a 10-2 run to open the fourth, but the Pelicans hung tough as they did for most of the night and cut their deficit to 83-82 after Eric Gordon's 3-pointer with 6:17 left in the game.

It remained a one-point spread when Thompson buried a 3-pointer to make it 88-84, then his three-point play with 1 1/2 minutes left stretched the margin to nine. Curry added the decisive blow to New Orleans on the next possession when he drove the lane, lured Davis away from the basket and dropped a pass off to Andrew Bogut for a dunk.

Bogut only scored five points, but pulled down 14 rebounds, while Leandro Barbosa chipped in 12 off the bench.

Davis went for 26 points and 10 rebounds in the loss, while Gordon chipped in 23 points. Tyreke Evans, who was a game-time decision with a knee bruise, finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Norris Cole scored 11 with the second unit and Omer Asik grabbed 13 boards.

Jrue Holiday was held out of Game 2 after 21 minutes in Game 1. During warmups, it was determined he couldn't go because of a leg injury, which cost him 41 games during the regular season. He is listed as questionable for Thursday.

"Our guys are growing up on the fly, and Anthony (Davis) and I have had some talks over the past few days and it is all sinking in now," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said.

The Pelicans beat the Warriors 16 days ago in New Orleans to halt a seven-game home slide to Golden State.

Game 4 will be Saturday night in the Big Easy.






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