Here are five observations from the Warriors’ 106-102 home win over the Pelicans on Friday night.
1. D’Angelo Russell, built to hit late jumpers
The Warriors, last month, lost to the Wolves in Minneapolis, but that game was dragged into overtime by the hot hand of D’Angelo Russell. Remember that night? Seventeen of his 19 made shots were jumpers. Fourteen of his 52 points were scored in the final five minutes of regulation.
They lost, but just pushing an opponent to overtime is a mini-win for these Warriors this season. They did it one other time and … well … maybe the result
that particular night wasn’t as impressive. It was at home against the Knicks, just days after they fired their coach, and New York beat the Warriors in overtime, the rare bad loss.
But the Warriors wouldn’t have even had an extra chance had Russell not drilled a leaning, line-drive 3 from the deep right corner to tie it in the final 10 seconds of regulation.
Which is the point of this post. Russell, no matter how well or poorly he has been performing, does seem to rise up in important moments. There’s a reason he’s known for the ice in his veins celebration. He has hit a whole lot of huge jumpers in his early career, sometimes erasing memories of the rough night that might’ve come before it.
“That’s more about what’s inside of you and less about your actual shot,” Draymond Green said. “You can be a great shooter and you don’t like those moments. He loves those moments and tends to come through.”
Against the Wolves, he was great from start to finish, already hot before he got scorching. Against the Knicks, he wasn’t very good, a main reason the Warriors fell behind to a terrible Knicks team before he was suddenly the reason they had a chance to win.
Against the Pelicans on Friday night — the Warriors’ sixth win of the season — Russell was somewhere in between. He wasn’t terrible; he wasn’t great. Midway through the fourth, you probably would describe his night as quietly decent. He had four sloppy turnovers but also 15 points, seven assists, a couple of steals and a team-best plus/minus.
But the Warriors still trailed by six when the clock struck five minutes. NBA.com/Stats describes the “clutch” as any moment when there are five or fewer minutes left and the score is within five or fewer points.
So, technically, when Russell buried a 3 with 4:43 left, it didn’t fall under the “clutch” definition because the Warriors were down six upon release. But they were only down three when it landed, the start of his sudden spurt, ensuring the final 4:43 would fall under the “clutch” definition, which is typically his time.
“That’s who he is,” Steve Kerr said. “He’s built in that way to close because he’s not afraid to miss.”
Russell, despite getting briefly subbed out in that final stretch, hit all four of the Warriors’ shots in the final five minutes, scoring 10 points to give him 25 for the game. Green, the Mariano Rivera of defense, bottled up Brandon Ingram to seal the four-point win, but Green only got that chance because Russell, playing the role of ace set-up man, bumped them from six down to four up.
In isolation, he hit a wing 3 to tie the game with just under 90 seconds left and then, on a smart 2-for-1 to ensure an extra possession if needed, Russell bagged a mid-ranger to put them up with 30 seconds left. The binge gave him 15 made shots in “clutch” moments this season, 10 more than any other Warriors player, despite only appearing in seven of the 14 “clutch” games.
Widen those numbers out league-wide, and per minute, he has been the most potent “clutch” scorer in the NBA this season.
1. Chris Paul: 21 clutch makes in 78 clutch minutes
2. Nikola Jokic: 19 clutch makes in 65 clutch minutes
3. Zach LaVine: 19 clutch makes in 80 clutch minutes
4. Donovan Mitchell: 18 clutch makes in 57 clutch minutes
5. Buddy Hield: 17 clutch makes in 56 clutch minutes
6. Joe Harris: 16 clutch makes in 74 clutch minutes
7. Kyrie Irving: 16 clutch makes in 44 clutch minutes
8. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 16 clutch makes in 76 clutch minutes
9. D’Angelo Russell: 15 clutch makes in ONLY 27 clutch minutes
“Experience is key in this league,” Russell said. “I’ve been in positions where you’re down 20 with 10 minutes left, and you just see a player take over a game. I just remember specifically playing against Chris Paul, and he would just pass and have a strategy in first quarter, second quarter, third quarter. (Then) the fourth quarter is kind of his.”
2. Eric Paschall’s right knee
There’s a new injury situation to monitor in the coming days. Eric Paschall, already dealing with a hip issue, hurt his right knee late in the first quarter on Friday night.
Paschall was trying to seal the smaller JJ Redikk on a transition cross-match, calling for a lob over the top. But as Jordan Poole threw the pass, Paschall rose for the catch and Redikk, off balance, stumbled into an accidental undercut. As Paschall landed, Redikk crashed into the side of Paschall’s right knee, and it bent inward.
Paschall was in obvious, immediate pain, yelping as he limped toward the sideline. But he did stay in the game for several possessions, trying to shake it off — a slightly positive sign that it might not be serious.
But Paschall left for the locker room during a timeout in the second quarter, followed by Rick Celebrini, and didn’t return. Paschall wasn’t in the locker room postgame. The team said he was getting further testing on the injured right knee. A status update is expected this weekend.
“Hopefully it’s nothing serious,” Green said. “But honestly, (assuming it’s minor), it may be a blessing if he has to miss a week or two. Things came at him really fast. All of sudden he’s playing 36, 37 minutes as a rookie, carrying the scoring load with eight guys, playing more games than he’s ever played, quicker than the games have ever come on his schedule, in a league that he’s never played in.”
“And he handled that well,” Green continued. “But it may not be the worst thing he has to miss a week or two and just kind of get through the hip thing, kind of let all that stuff clear up and get back to where he was.”
3. What would an absence do to the rotation?
Kevon Looney was spotted pregame on the team’s practice court going through a pretty intense game of three-on-three with some assistants, knowing that he wasn’t part of the expected rotation, yet needs to get some cardio in as he slowly tries to build his conditioning.
Looney probably wouldn’t have played a second had Paschall not been injured, but his absence opened up six second-half minutes for Looney. It still wasn’t enough. Looney was spotted postgame, on that same practice court, going through another scrimmage.
But if Paschall is forced to miss time, it’s possible Looney will again get some more actual game minutes to work off the rust. Also in line for a bump in playing time: Omari Spellman, who only received seven bench minutes against the Pelicans.
4. Steph Curry sighting
Steph Curry had been away from the Warriors in recent weeks, rehabbing with his hand specialist in Los Angeles during the days before and after he had a second surgery to remove the pins from his left hand.
The pins are now removed, and he’s advancing to a more active stage of his rehab. Curry was at the game on Friday night, did some sort of light workout in the weight room pregame and didn’t have a cast or wrap on his hand the entire night, a positive sign.
5. A flying Ky Bowman down in the G League
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(Photo of Russell: Noah Graham / NBAE via Getty Images)
