Golden State didn't merely beat New Orleans on Monday night. The Warriors overwhelmed the Pelicans 138–87 in San Francisco, completed a perfect six-game homestand and made it eight consecutive wins after opening the season with three losses. Stephen Curry and Brandin Podziemski scored 25 points each, but the more revealing number was 51: the final margin in a game that was effectively decided long before the final buzzer.
The opening quarter told New Orleans what kind of night it was facing. Golden State led 35–20 after 12 minutes, with the Pelicans hitting only seven of their first 23 field-goal attempts and missing 10 of 12 threes. By half-time the advantage was 72–43. The Warriors weren't waiting for Curry to rescue stalled possessions; their scoring arrived from multiple positions, and New Orleans couldn't slow the ball or the shooters enough to regain control.
Podziemski supplied 15 of his 25 points before the break and finished with five made threes. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg was even more economical: 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including a perfect four from four beyond the arc, plus seven rebounds. Those are the performances that make this result more interesting than a routine Curry-led blowout. Golden State's secondary scoring didn't just supplement its star. It helped create the cushion that made the second half so comfortable.
Curry then scored 16 points in the third quarter, when the Warriors' lead reached 40. His 25-point night came without the burden of having to manufacture every important basket. Golden State shot 54.9 per cent from the field and made 21 of 44 three-point attempts, a combination that left the Pelicans chasing both efficient interior finishing and a barrage from outside. The official NBA game page records the 9 November fixture and final result.
The bench kept the pressure on. Charles Bassey finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, De'Anthony Melton added 16 points and LJ Cryer scored 10. That spread matters because the Warriors have now built a winning streak on more than one player's shooting form. The extra contributions also allowed Golden State to finish a lopsided game without asking its leading scorers to carry a heavy closing-quarter workload.
For New Orleans, the context was difficult but the performance was still stark. The Pelicans were on the second night of a back-to-back and rested Zion Williamson; Trey Murphy III also sat out. Derik Queen led them with 16 points, while Dejounte Murray scored 12. Their 36.3 per cent field-goal shooting and eight makes from 28 three-point attempts explain why the deficit kept growing rather than shrinking. The Associated Press account details the absences and early shooting struggles.
Golden State's turnaround is now impossible to dismiss as a brief correction to an ugly start. According to Reuters' game report, the Warriors became the first NBA team to follow an 0–3 start with eight straight victories. This was also the franchise's fourth-largest winning margin. The historic sequence is impressive, but the basketball underneath it is more useful: multiple reliable scoring outlets, accurate perimeter shooting and a defence that prevented a tired opponent from finding any sustained rhythm.
The next challenge is different. Golden State travels to Houston on Wednesday, where the Rockets should offer a far sterner test of the ball movement and spacing that shredded New Orleans. The Pelicans return home to face Brooklyn. Monday's margin won't carry over to either matchup, but the Warriors can take something tangible with them: their offence is producing quality shots for Curry, Podziemski and the players around them, not simply asking one superstar to solve every possession.
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