1-Game Overreaction: Golden State Warriors Crush New Orleans Pelicans, Restore Fans’ Emotional Stability
December 17, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors power forward David Lee (10) dribbles against New Orleans Pelicans center Jason Smith (14) during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The Golden State Warriors handily defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 104-93 Tuesday evening, much to the delight of a home crowd that actually came to Oracle Arena armed with various fruits and vegetables to launch towards the court in the event the Dubs dropped their third straight contest.
Things were starting to look grim for the Warriors after an uninspired loss to the Phoenix Suns — THE PHOENIX SUNS! — that actually put them behind the upstart Arizonans in the Pacific Division standings and outside the early shaping of the Western Conference playoff picture.
So it was imperative that the team returned home this week to stop the bleeding. Aside from the obvious reason that you need to win more games than you lose to be successful, a win Tuesday night would go a long way in regards to making sure that fans of professional basketball in the Bay Area didn’t break down sobbing at inconvenient intervals during work and school hours.
And so it was a pleasant surprise to learn before the game began that Andre Iguodala would be back in the starting lineup for the first time since straining his left hamstring on November 22, as it gave fans a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe the Warriors wouldn’t come out of the locker room playing like s–t.
Iguodala did indeed make a triumphant return in the sense that the team triumphed over the opposition with him back in the lineup. He was hardly spectacular (two points with two assists in 17 minutes of action), with his only field goal coming on an alley-oop from Stephen Curry, but he still managed to record a whopping +20 in regards to his overall effect on the game.
If that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about him being the official harbinger of success for Golden State basketball, then you obviously don’t like your sports with a side of symbolism.
Curry led all scorers with 28 points and added 12 assists for good measure, while David Lee tallied 21 along with 17 rebounds against a New Orleans frontcourt that was missing franchise cornerstone Anthony Davis, so ignore that if you don’t like your wins with a grain of salt.
Another grain of salt for anyone who cares: Not a single player on the Warriors’ bench posted a positive in the dreaded +/- column on the stat sheet, so maybe the fans should bring produce every game to put that pressure on the starters to succeed, because it doesn’t appear that the bench production will be improving any time soon.
But never you fret, Warriors fans. You can breathe a little sigh of relief knowing that your team is starting the process of righting the ship.
Oh, what’s that? They’re playing the Spurs on Thursday? Well then. I guess it’s pretty important that the ship is back on course, like, right now.
Because if we lose to the Spurs on Thursday, then we have to play those damn Lakers on Saturday, and after that it’s a quick trip to the sparsely oxygenated mountains of Denver…and then we have to face the Clippers?!? And then a SEVEN-GAME EAST COAST ROAD TRIP?!?!? OH MY GOOODDDDDDD!
DON’T LET ME DOWN, WARRIORS!!! I CAN’T STAND THE THOUGHT OF NO PLAYOFFS AGAIN! I SUFFERED THROUGH THAT FOR FAR TOO LONG TO GO BACK NOW! SAVE US IGGY! SAVE US STEPH! SAVE US MARK JACKSON!
Ok, so maybe emotionally stable isn’t the right choice of words to describe our state of mind. See you all Thursday, I’ll be the guy chain smoking in the parking lot yelling at the radio as the game is blasting on KNBR.