NBA Scores: Warriors dominate the Pelicans wire-to-wire, winning 118-92 to take a 3-1 series lead

The Golden State Warriors defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 118-92 in a dominating fashion to take a 3-1 series lead heading back to Oakland for Game 5.

Kevin Durant was the story of the game as he couldn’t be stopped by anyone the Pelicans threw at him. He’d lead all scorers with 38 points and kept the boat sturdy during stretches when other Warriors struggled to find a rhythm.

As a team however, the Warriors put forth one of their more complete performances this series totaling 28 assists to 11 turnovers, and racking up 11 steals in an all-around terrific defensive display.

Anthony Davis was held to 8-for-22 shooting and Rajon Rondo was bottled up, only being able to deliver 6 assists while turning the ball over 4 times.

The Warriors can close this series out on Tuesday at Oracle.

An opening blitz for the boys in blue and gold

The Warriors wasted no time in course correcting their mistakes from Game 3 by dominating the Pelicans throughout the first quarter.

Durant tallied 10 points to lead the team, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson made two 3-pointers a piece, and the team combined for 37 points on 60% shooting and 12 assists.

Defensively, the Warriors locked in and held the Pelicans to only 22 points on 28% shooting. The 9 free throws they got and converted kept this from being a complete annihilation through the first 12 minutes.

Steve Kerr’s decision to start with the Hampton’s Five paid off dividends. But even Quinn Cook and Jordan Bell, who got some burn towards the end of the quarter, made some great contributions off the bench.

Pelicans storm back

The second quarter saw a huge swing in New Orleans favor as they outscored the Warriors 32-24, cutting Golden State’s lead to 7 going into halftime.

This had partly to do with the law of averages beginning to kick in for both teams when it came to shooting from the field. But the growing disparity in free throws also helped the Pelicans close the gap by disrupting any momentum the Warriors would try to build.

Things got a bit chippy as Draymond Green picked up his first technical of the postseason after a no-call on a possible charge call he tried to draw against Anthony Davis.

The highlight of the quarter was Cook continuing to give the team quality minutes off the bench as he upped his total to 8 points in 8 minutes.

A classic Warriors second half

Despite the Pelicans making their run in the second quarter, the Warriors came back from halftime unfazed and pulled off one of those third quarter blazing runs.

Durant was simply unstoppable baby, eviscerating the Pelicans by simply shooting over the outstretched arms of Jrue Holiday. Even after the Pelicans decided to switch Davis onto Durant, he couldn’t be bothered to miss.

His scoring was critical as even though Curry had 23 points, he still looked like he was trying to regain some of his legs and rhythm. Thompson was also a bit on the cold side, especially from deep.

Whenever the Pelicans would try to string a run together, Durant answered back with a timely bucket to cut that momentum.

Meanwhile our defense continued to play excellent and the referee whistles cooled off.

The starters ended up getting some rest in the fourth with the bench squad closing out the last several minutes of the game.