In continued effort to find identity, Warriors demolish Pelicans to run win streak to eight

When all else failed, there was another end of the court to hang the hat on, as the thinking went. Toughness. Teeth. New point-of-attack vigor, brought by new defensive mind Frank Vogel. And yet three games and three losses brought an embarrassing swath of defensive breakdowns in the pick-and-roll, and too many bodies lost on weak-side rotations (cough, Yaxel Lendeborg), and these Golden State Warriors looked lost.

Steve Kerr‘s shift to more five-out offensive “Flow,” as Golden State calls it, was bound to lead to offensive clunkiness. Through three games, though, points were hardly the issue. Golden State had 127 dumped on them by the Lakers in the season opener, and then were torched by the Grizzlies’ Ty Jerome, and then watched Devin Booker run rampant in Phoenix.

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“You got to create an identity,” Draymond Green said Oct. 26. “And we haven’t created that identity yet.”

Exactly two weeks later, late in the second quarter of the Warriors’138-87 beatdown, a depleted and hapless New Orleans Pelicans team attempted to play advantage basketball. New Orleans center Derik Queen had his back in the post to the decidedly smaller De’Anthony Melton, with no promise of a double-team coming. Queen made his move, naturally, and spun off Melton toward what appeared as a wide-open lane.

And Warriors center Charles Bassey, sliding over under the rim, leaped with Queen and sent a two-hand dunk attempt back.

Has this Golden State team, which completed a 6-0 homstand, found its identity? Still not yet, if you asked Kerr earlier Monday night. They’re 11 games in, after all. But identities are both forged in the fires of close games and in sleepy halls against teams with no identity; these Warriors have cultivated a growing reputation for nastiness across a now-eight-game winning streak full of skirmishes and technicals, and utterly shut down the Pelicans’ entire operation in ferocious style Monday.

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Warriors 138, Pelicans 87

Percentages: FG .363, FT .875.

3-Point Goals: 8-28, .286 (Jones 2-3, Murray 2-3, Poole 1-3, McGowens 1-4, Bey 1-5, Fears 1-5, Queen 0-1, Mathurin 0-2, Matkovic 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 9. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 8 (Queen 3, Fears, Jones, McGowens, Poole, Reese).

Turnovers: 13 (Fears 6, Jones 2, Poole 2, Matkovic, Murray, Queen).

Steals: 2 (Johnson, McGowens).

Technical Fouls: Murray, 7:04 second; Fears, 8:33 third; coach Jamahl Mosley, 3:46 third; Queen, 10:51 fourth.

Percentages: FG .549, FT .895.

3-Point Goals: 21-44, .477 (Podziemski 5-11, Lendeborg 4-4, Curry 4-7, Melton 4-8, Cryer 2-6, Horford 1-3, Niang 1-3, Ike 0-1, Santos 0-1).

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Team Rebounds: 9. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 9 (Horford 3, Bassey, Ike, Leons, Niang, Podziemski, Santos).

Turnovers: 11 (Green 2, Lendeborg 2, Bassey, Cryer, Curry, Ike, Leons, Melton, Niang).

Steals: 6 (Horford 2, Green, Lendeborg, Melton, Podziemski).

Technical Fouls: Lendeborg, 10:51 fourth.

A: 18,064 (18,064).

This game was over the minute, pregame, that New Orleans ruled out stars Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy III. This game was over the first-quarter minute that the Pelicans, fresh off a back-to-back in Los Angeles, let Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski eye-fake a defender in transition toward a streaking Stephen Curry in favor of a by-himself Lendeborg under the rim. This game was over long before the fourth quarter, when New Orleans coach Jamahl Mosley drew a technical foul in what could only be described as the energizing equivalent of the “Chris Paul hits a huge three to cut the lead down to 42” internet meme.

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The Pelicans, through an array of one-on-one no-chance stepback jumpers and utter lack of hustle in transition, played a game that can only be described as an affront to basketball itself on Monday night. A good team would’ve made them pay.

The Warriors took their money, and their spirit, and their pride. Queen grew so visibly frustrated by the fourth quarter that Pelicans staff walked him around the perimeter of the Chase Center court – with the ball very much in play – and eventually sat him down in separate baseline seats.

Foot met gas pedal. For all the obvious lack of premier point-of-attack defenders on Golden State’s roster, Vogel often let the Warriors’ perimeter defenders play straight up against their matchups without sending much help, a common theme in this Warriors start. The Pelicans ended shooting 36%, and it felt worse.

They were boat-raced, on the other end, as a 36-year-old Green and 40-year-old Ak Horford somehow beat a younger Pelicans team down the floor for one second-quarter layup.

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Lendeborg looked like he was playing at roughly 75% speed – a compliment – and ended the night shooting 80% from the floor, in a no-frills 23-point performance. Brandin Podziemski carried much of the offensive burden, with a season-high 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting. And Stephen Curry and Green were put firmly on ice as these Warriors continue to streak, finishing with 21 minutes each.

The only blemish on the night, for Golden State, was a hamstring injury from backup point guard Brandon Williams, who left the game after a couple buckets in the first quarter and didn’t return to the bench for the evening. The Warriors can hardly afford another member of their rotation down, with second-year wing Will Richard sidelined by a torn UCL in his thumb and 33-year-old Gary Payton II scratched with knee inflammation.

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This article originally published at In continued effort to find identity, Warriors demolish Pelicans to run win streak to eight.

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com