Bricks and beignets

[GSW-NOP recap/videos/transcripts]

Moving on from a game filled with cracks on windows attached to orange hoops and turnovers of the beignet variety 😋 here is De’Anthony Melton on his poster dunk over Karlo Markovic:

I had a nice little dunk against the Warriors probably two, three years ago. I’m not gonna say no names, no holding us on, but you know what I mean? Y’all can see the clips or whatever.

“Oh damn, Melt,” said Gui Santos, “I didn’t know you could have that.”

“I don’t know if y’all remember my rookie year,” said Moses Moody. “Seeing him in Memphis. That’s what he did. He was a dunker.

Still miss you, Kevon Looney, who ironically now has been in the building for both Melton posters:

Here’s a synopsis of my “honest recap”:

Rich recaps a Warriors vs. Pelicans game in New Orleans, describing an ugly, low-quality offensive night marked by missed threes, smoked layups, and frequent mistakes. The Warriors played without key stars (including one Wardell Stephen Curry, Kristaps Porzingis and Jimmy Butler), and Rich argues the team lacked a volume shot-creator and had to play nearly perfect passing basketball to compensate, but couldn’t make shots.

Draymond Green is praised for strong effort (including a block on Zion Williamson, a corner three, and a solid stat line of 11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists), while Gary Payton II is described as non-impactful compared to prior games.

The Pelicans are criticized for lacking chemistry and not consistently running through Zion, even with Dejounte Murray returning; New Orleans repeatedly gave Golden State chances via turnovers.

The recap highlights extreme shooting inefficiency for both teams (at one point 34% combined), and key late-game sequences: a full-court press forcing a Pelicans mistake to cut the deficit, a Saddiq Bey reverse and-one on Santos as a turning point, Melton’s missed free throw that could have made it a two-point game, and Melton air-balling a potential late three. The Pelicans closed it out at the line, winning 113-109, with the Warriors finishing with around 20–21 turnovers and New Orleans with 17.

Here’s the video and podcast versions:

Here’s the postgame with captions and transcripts:

00:00 What do you feel like was a difference down the stretch tonight?

00:05 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME NOP-GSW: Well, I don’t know that down the stretch is what got us. It was just the full 48 minutes. We had 21 turnovers. We did not execute very well. Offensively, spacing was bad. Transition, we had probably three potential layups in the first half and we didn’t run, we didn’t cut to the rim, we didn’t get to the corners, so we just looked a little disjointed. I thought their pressure early took us out of some stuff, but the game was right there for us. We just couldn’t execute well enough and we, with the injuries we have, we have to play well to win. We have to play well and I don’t think we played well tonight.

00:50 11-of-45 from three. I know you mentioned just the rhythm wasn’t necessarily there. Did you like the looks that you guys — ?

00:55 Not really, no. It just never felt like there was a flow to the game. Even sometimes when you can get an open three and yes, it’s a good shot, but if there’s no rhythm and flow to the game, then you’re not gonna shoot it as well.

01:12 What could the team have done to find a rhythm or to — ?

01:16 Well, we showed pockets of it in the second half. Our off-ball stuff was pretty good. We got some layups, but some of the decision-making really hurt us. Too many turnovers and just never quite found the rhythm that we needed.

01:35 And De’Anthony, season-high 28 minutes. Just what’d you make of his performance tonight?

01:41 Yeah, De’Anthony was great. It’s really fun to see him performing at this level after being out for a couple years. He’s such a great guy, such a fantastic teammate, hell of a player and I’m really happy for him that he’s healthy and playing at a high level.

02:01 Your reaction to Draymond’s hacking Deandre Jordan?

02:06 I was worried that — I mean, that was the plan. We wanted to foul him. I was worried that they were gonna wave off the free throw because he fouled him during the during the free throw. I wasn’t quite sure if that’s a rule where you can wave away the free throw, but yeah, he jumped on his back and probably just need to wrap him up there, instead. But the officials did a good job of just handling that and then explaining the situation, the follow on that.

02:39 I mean, what do you feel like was working for Draymond in the second half after the first half?

02:42 The game opened up a little bit. I thought Draymond did a really good job of running the floor. One of the things we’re talking to him about right now, especially without Steph, is to really dive out of pick-and-roll and clear that space at the top. Normally he and Steph are playing their two-man game up there and it’s really lethal, but without Steph we’ve gotta get him down the floor, so I thought he really sprinted the floor in transition, got to the corners. Second half, you could see the assists started to pile up because we did some things off-ball to create some openings. He made some really nice plays.

—

03:19 Gui, what was the biggest difference between the first half and the second?

03:28 GUI SANTOS: I think we — overall, the whole — like, during the whole game, we should move the ball a little bit better. We should take care of the ball, say, like, for myself, I think I got too much turnovers today. That cannot happen, so that was a big thing today. We should take care of the ball and also just move the ball a little bit better like we did last game.

03:53 I guess, what did you guys — what did they — was it something they were doing just to create those turnovers? What, how did their pressure affect you guys?

04:01 I think they did not make us turn the ball over. I feel like it was us, you know? Like, the couple turnovers that I had, that is, like, just cannot happen. There’s some stuffs that we gotta clean up and that’s the NBA. Tomorrow, we got another one and we just gotta bounce back and win tomorrow.

04:24 (Inaudible on Melton’s dunk)

04:25 I was down there. I thought the, like, I cut without the ball. I was, like, kind of right in the middle of the way, but then I see — I saw him taking off and just throwing the rim down. It was, oh damn, Melt, I didn’t know you could have, like, that. But it was pretty cool. I saw that from the good angle.

04:50 (Inaudible on playing 39 minutes)

04:52 That’s probably my high, my career in the NBA. I’m kind of tired, but it feels good. I’d rather be tired off playing than be tired just to be waiting, but I love that I could play better today and help the team more in these 39 minutes, but that’s the NBA. Some days you’re not gonna play your best basketball, but we gotta be ready to bounce back tomorrow.

—

05:20 Moses, 21 turnovers tonight for the team. Just what did you think caused you guys have that many? Was it something they were doing or was it something you guys were doing?

05:30 MOSES MOODY: Yeah, I think we took some risks we didn’t have to, kind of got sped up some. All those things, I think, attributed to that.

05:39 Team perspective, what makes Zion a tough cover for the team defense?

05:44 Yeah, he plays with a lot of force and him going down to the lane that puts pressure on the defense, can get some open shots for some guys as we help. That’s what he is good at.

05:58 (Inaudible) team offensively in the second half?

06:00 Yeah, I think even in the first half, we got some good shots. A lot of them didn’t fall. More fell in the second half, I think. I mean, overall, we missed a lot of shots this game. Yeah, just finding that flow, that’s the thing.

06:21 28 is a season-high in points (for Melton, inaudible) — ?

06:26 Yeah, yeah, he played great, especially down the stretch, getting down the lane, getting to the free throw line. He really brought us back and kept us in it at the end.

06:33 (Inaudible question on Melton’s dunk)

06:35 Yeah. Yeah, I knew. I had — I don’t know if y’all remember my rookie year, seeing him in Memphis. That’s what he did. He was a dunker. He threw it down, so yeah, I seen him in all his — all these workouts and everything. I knew he had it in him.

06:48 JK debuted for Atlanta tonight. Have you, by chance, seen his stat line?

06:52 No, I haven’t. I saw his first point with — I mean, BP showed me. What’d he have?

07:01 (27 points in) 24 minutes, or something like that.

07:02 Okay. Okay. Yeah.

07:08 Is that it? Cool. Alright. We’ll have Melt —

07:12 You said 20-what?

07:13 27.

07:14 Damn.

—

07:15 What do you feel like kept you guys from finding your offensive rhythm as a group tonight?

07:23 DE’ANTHONY MELTON: They got some pretty good on-ball defenders out there that kind of switch and have length with Dejounte and Herb, so it was great to see Dejounte come back, but them able to switch up top and mess with the ball and stuff like that, it disrupted us a little bit. But I feel like after a while, we was just missing shots, honestly.

07:48 Did you like the looks as you guys got?

07:49 Yeah, I mean, I thought we got some good looks and the ball just didn’t drop and I think sometimes we turned down some looks. That’s basketball.

08:02 Season-high 28 minutes for you. Just kind of physically, how do you feel at this point in the season?

08:07 I feel good. I feel solid, taking it day by day, see how tomorrow holds up, see how my body holds up and just keep chugging along.

08:17 I think there are five back-to-backs after this one. Do you want to — do you feel like you’re getting closer to playing back-to-backs?

08:23 Oh, most definitely. It was conversations about this one, but we kind of err on the side of the minute increase and seeing how that felt on me, so definitely can’t wait to finally get out there just to compete with my guys on both days.

08:39 I was gonna say just compared to the last, let’s say, two years ago, do you feel like you’re pretty much back to 100% at this point?

08:46 I wouldn’t say — not necessarily back to a hundred, but I’m working there. It’s a long journey and days pile up, so you just gotta continue to work.

08:58 How’d that dunk feel?

08:58 Man, felt great. A lot of frustration went into that dunk, you know what I mean? It was a lot of chirping going on out there, so just wanted to put a lot of it into that dunk.

09:09 (Inaudible) Memphis days... dunk all the time.

09:12 On me. On me. Yeah. No, I had a nice little dunk against Memphis — I mean, against the Warriors probably two, three years ago. I’m not gonna say no names, no holding us on, but you know what I mean? Y’all can see the clips or whatever.

🫶💙💛