Pelicans collapse in second half of loss at Golden State

It was truly two different games in one, a tale of two halves Tuesday night.

For one half, the New Orleans Pelicans looked the part of a playoff team and one that could make noise and perhaps make a run in the postseason.

For one half, the Pelicans looked the part of a team that will be fortunate to finish in the top 10 in the Western Conference.

The Golden State Warriors rebounded from a poor first half to destroy New Orleans in the second half in a 120-109 victory in San Francisco.

Steph Curry heated up as his team awakened in the second half. Curry finished with 39 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals.

The Pelicans were simply great in the first half, leading by as many as 20 points.

New Orleans led 36-25 after one quarter and led 63-46 at halftime.

The half featured a few heated moments, all involving the mercurial Draymond Green, who picked up a technical foul, his 17th of the season, which will result in a $5,000 fine. Later, Green committed an offensive foul and kick his legs at Herb Jones but no further penalty was assessed.

Both teams did a lot of chirping at each other after and the Warriors responded in demonstrative fashion, quieting the Pelicans when it mattered most.

New Orleans had 20 fast break points in the first half. The Pelicans had just two in the second half as they were bogged down into half-court offensive sets, often taking huge chunks of time off the clock and either getting bad shots or having the wrong guys take shots.

That was a credit to the Warriors, who made halftime adjustments and seriously ramped up their defensive intensity.

Then came a barrage of 3-pointers, layups and dunks on the offensive end.

Both teams were careless with the ball as each team committed 19 turnovers but the Warriors were much better in the second half in that department. Golden State shot 52 percent from the field and 45 percent from 3-point range.

Golden State blasted New Orleans by a 74-46 margin in the second half as the Warriors took away Brandon Ingram with double teams, playing quite a bit of box-and-one defenses with the one on Ingram with help. There was simply not enough help to pick up the slack.

Ingram scored 26 points and had to work hard against a very physical defensive effort.

Trey Murphy III did his part with 21 points but CJ McCollum scored just 15 points on 6 of 17 shooting and was a non-factor in the second half.

With the win, Golden State moves into the sixth spot in the Western Conference while New Orleans remains eighth in the conference at 38-38.

In retrospect, it was a tough ask of the Pelicans, playing the second of a back-to-back and facing the defending champion on its home floor. Golden State is now 31-8 at home, very hard to beat there.

The Pelicans complete the four-game road trip Thursday night at Western Conference leader Denver.

It does not get any easier.