Stephen Curry's return sparks Warriors to 121-116 win against Pelicans

OAKLAND - They applauded like a God had appeared on Earth.

Stephen Curry was standing at the scorer’s table with 4:20 remaining in the first quarter of the Warriors’ 121-116 win against the New Orleans Pelicans. He was waiting to play for the first time since March 23, when he sprained his left knee. He had missed the Warriors’ past 16 games.

He seemed like he never missed a beat. Like he never missed a game. He scored 28 points in 27 minutes off the bench - he didn’t start for the second time in his playoff career. The Warriors now lead this series 2-0.

“We knew we wanted to play him 25 minutes or so,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “Not so much based on his knee, but based on his conditioning. We played really well in Game 1, so we decided to stick with Nick (Young) in the starting lineup, and then just play Steph in Quinn Cook’s minutes, and then pick it up from there. It played out as I expected.”

The Pelicans, those poor birds, played as well as they could. They shut down Klay Thompson, who scored just 10 points and made only 4 of 20 shots. And they made Kevin Durant work hard - he took 23 shots to score 29 points.

But, the Pelicans couldn’t guard everybody. Draymond Green had 20 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists.

And the Pelicans couldn’t guard anybody when Curry was on the floor. The Warriors outscored the Pelicans by 26 points when he played. When he didn’t play, the Pelicans outscored the Warriors by 21.

Call it the Curry Effect.

“Everything changed as soon as he walked on the floor,” Kerr said.

The Warriors officially announced Curry’s availability to play with a whisper Tuesday morning.

The team’s public relations director gathered a group of reporters in the Warriors gym after shootaround and murmured the news as if he had dropped a bombshell that might literally explode if he wasn’t careful.

He revealed no more. The Warriors wouldn’t say before the game how long they planned to let Curry play. That was classified information.

“He has looked great in the scrimmages - that’s why I have decided to either start him or bring him off the bench, one or the other,” Kerr said with a mischievous grin during his pregame press conference.

He concealed his starting lineup until just before tipoff. And, of course, Curry wasn’t in it.

The Warriors fell behind 18-11 without Curry early in the first quarter. When he entered the game, he swished a 3-pointer 11 seconds later. Then he hit another 3 from 32 feet away. He made 3 of 4 shots during the first quarter and finished with a team-high 8 points in fewer than five minutes.

Still, the Warriors trailed 29-27 at the end of the first. They had allowed 10 fast-break points and 20 points in the paint. The Pelicans were running, running, running, and the Warriors were giving up dunk after dunk.

The two teams were playing speed basketball. TNT television analyst and former Warriors big man Chris Webber said the pace was similar to an All-Star game, except both teams were playing defense, too. The Pelicans’ strategy was to shoot early in the shot clock before the Warriors’ great defense couldn’t get set.

The Warriors and Pelicans kept running in the second quarter. New Orleans scored 10 more fast-break points and 18 more points in the paint.

But they couldn’t stop the Warriors, who run just as well if not better than the Pelicans. The Pelicans are college-level runners. The Warriors are PhD-level. Green scored 9 points during the second quarter and Thompson scored eight, including the final three before halftime. He caught a bounce pass in the corner from Green and made a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Warriors led 58-55 at halftime.

Curry started the third quarter on the bench - the same placed he started the first quarter. Without him, the Pelicans went on an 11-2 run, and the Warriors quickly gave up their 3-point lead.

With 7:22 left in the third quarter, Curry re-entered the game and hit a 3 right away, of course. He scored 13 points in the third.

The Pelicans kept running. The Warriors couldn’t put them away. Every time the Warriors went on a run, the Pelicans responded with their own. They scored 7 fast-break points and 16 points in the paint during third quarter, and finished the game with 39 fast-break points and 66 points in the paint.

When the fourth quarter started, the Pelicans trailed 88-86.

The Warriors almost ended the game at the beginning of the fourth. Green hit back-to-back 3s and gave the Warriors an 8-point lead. “Those were the two biggest shots of the game,” Kerr said.

That’s when Kerr took Curry out to give him a breather. And that’s when the Pelicans turned the Warriors’ 8-point lead into just a 3-point lead. Kerr called a time out with 9:21 remaining, but didn’t bring Curry back in just yet.

Curry returned with 6:59 remaining. The Pelicans were clinging to their 3-point deficit. Doing everything they could to stay in the game. Before they could even clear their throats, they were down by 10 points. And then, the game was over.

Call it the Curry Effect.

He isn’t just what the Warriors were missing. He’s what the league was missing. What a pleasure he is.