The Golden State Warriors win their first game after acquiring Kevin Durant by beating the New Orleans Pelicans 122-114. Anthony Davis had another big scoring outing with 45 but it wasn't enough to get the Pelicans the win.
The Warriors got blown out in their first game of the 2016-17 NBA season against the San Antonio Spurs 129-120. Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr took the blame for the loss and said he didn't prepare his guys enough for the game. "I didn't have our guys ready to play," Kerr said. Curry and Durant called the loss "a slap in the face."
But on their game against the Pelicans, the Warriors looked ready, at least on the offensive end. Durant scored 30, Klay Thompson had 28, while Curry had 23. But despite their offense finding a little rhythm, their defense couldn't find any.
The Warriors defense couldn't figure out a way to stop Davis who scored from wherever he wanted to and finished the night with 45 points on 17-31 shooting. He went to the post, drained mid-range jumpers, made layups and dunks, put up floaters, went to the foul line, and even made a 3-point basket. Even the young Pelican Tim Frazier was slicing through their defense and finished with 21 points.
Kerr had to play his four all-stars for at least 34 minutes because he was not getting enough offensive production from his bench. The Warriors' bench got outscored 39-23 by the Pelicans second unit.
And despite having three of the league's best shooters in Durant, Thompson, and Curry, the Warriors just shot 9-28 from 3-point range. That's poor shooting if you consider the quality of shooting that the trio has. They also shot poorly in their loss against the Spurts, shooting just 7-33 from the field.
The Warriors are now 1-1 for the season while the Pelicans are 0-2. Both teams will hit the road in their games; the Warriors will face the Phoenix Suns(0-2) while the Pelicans will go up against the Spurs (2-0).