The Pelicans hosted the Warriors on Thursday night in the NBA. With Steph Curry being sidelined due to a muscle injury, this promised to be a tough battle in Smoothie King Center. In the end, Brandon Ingram led the way for the Pelicans, thus handing the Warriors their first back-to-back losses for the season.
The match started quite well for the Warriors who took a double-digit lead in the second quarter. However, the Pelicans made a comeback towards its end, going into the halftime with a point advantage, 47-46.
Then, when everybody thought that the Warriors would sweep them in the third, the Pelicans managed to fight back, increasing their lead to 3 points. Poole and Wiggins made yet another attempt to win the game, but they never got in front. In the end, the team from New Orleans outlasted the Warriors, 101-96.
Gary Clark with a CLUTCH block to seal the win for the @PelicansNBA ! pic.twitter.com/oo21Ar5x7g
— NBA (@NBA) January 7, 2022
Brandon Ingram led the way for the Pelicans with a magnificent performance. He has been highly efficient from the field, finishing off with 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists. Josh Hart, Herbert Jones, and Gary Clark helped their team as well, ending up with double figures for the night.
In the absence of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, the Warriors become quite shorthanded. Andrew Wiggins dropped 21 points on 7-17 shooting from the field. The Congolese, Jonathan Kuminga added 13 points, while Damion Lee and Jordan Poole combined for 23 points.
These was the first back-to-back losses for the Warriors this season. They dropped to 2nd place in the West, following Suns’ victory over the Clippers. The team from San Francisco holds a 29-9 record as they lost the last two times without Steph Curry in the squad.
The victory gave some hope to the Pelicans who don’t have a great season so far. They sit in 13th place in the Western Conference with 14 wins and 25 losses. The team relies mostly on Brandon Ingram and Jonas Valanciunas who will do their best to grab one of the last Playoffs spots at the end of the season.
