What we learned as Wiggins fuels Warriors’ NBA Cup win over Pelicans originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The court was the color of an eye-burning blue, the New Orleans Pelicans were without multiple top players and the Warriors had to fight until the final seconds to come away with a 112-108 win Friday night at Smoothie King Center on the first night of a back-to-back.
The Pelicans entered the night as losers in 12 of their previous 14 games.
Andrew Wiggins’ season-high 30 points led the Warriors and topped both teams. Steph Curry scored 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists, while Draymond Green also stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Golden State improved to 3-0 in the NBA Cup, and now are 56-7 all-time when Green makes three or more 3-pointers. The Warriors also now are 5-2 in clutch games this season, with both of their losses coming at the hands of the LA Clippers.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ win against the Pelicans.
Wiggins Is On Fire
Wiggins scored 20 points in the season opener and then 29 in the Warriors’ third game, giving him two 20-point performances in the first three games of the year. He then went seven straight games played without reaching 20 points.
After his 30-point game Friday night in New Orleans, Wiggins has scored at least 20 points in three consecutive games, scoring 22 and 27 in his previous two.
His start shooting the ball was quite literally perfect. Wiggins in the first quarter scored 13 points in eight minutes on 5-of-5 shooting and 3 of 3 from 3-point range. He added another six points in the second quarter to give him 19 at halftime. Going into the fourth, Wiggins was at 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
Wiggins played the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter and scored seven big points. It wasn’t just the fact that Wiggins nailed three 3-pointers, but he also had his spin moving working, was aggressive downhill and made all nine of his free-throw attempts.
Where’s The Help?
The first half was a three-man show for the Warriors. As Curry, Wiggins and Green combined to score 40 points and go 9 of 13 on threes, the rest of the Warriors scored a total of 22 points and were 1 of 9 from three.
Starting the fourth quarter without Curry, Wiggins or Green, the bench was able to hold it down and was a plus-3 in the first five minutes. That’s a major win for the Warriors. But overall, the bench didn’t provide the punch they usually do.
Especially Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield.
Hield never got hot shooting from long distance like he often does. He did hit a big three during those non-Curry minutes to begin the fourth quarter but overall went 2 of 7 on threes. Over his last three games, Hield has gone 7 of 22 (31.8 percent) from three.
However, Hield did grab six rebounds and was a plus-9 in 19 minutes. Kuminga was a minus-1 in 20 minutes. Kuminga missed both of his threes, and one of which was with 17 seconds remaining on the shot clock. He made two layups and a dunk but missed everything that was more than a few feet from the basket.
Cold Waters
Hield wasn’t the only sharp-shooter who went cold in New Orleans. Lindy Waters airballed a three and didn’t score a single point while starting alongside Curry in the Warriors’ backcourt. He played 15 minutes, the fewest of any starter, and was scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting – all 3-pointers.
Waters has shown he’s more than just a shooter. He had two assists Friday night, plays strong defense and his cutting opens a lot of things up. For how nice of a find Waters was by general manager Mike Dunleavy, the Warriors have a glaring hole.
De’Anthony Melton was the perfect fit next to Curry. Waters is a solid piece who has proven he’s an NBA player. Wednesday night’s win against the Atlanta Hawks also was his first time in double-digit scoring as a starter.
In five starts this season, Waters now has a total of 27 points, averaging 5.4 points and making 35 percent (7 of 20) of his threes. Five games of course are a small sample size. The rawness of Waters’ NBA experience also has been apparent more often than not as of late.
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