The New Orleans Pelicans PJ McCollum (3) drives on the Golden State Warriors Klay Thompson (11) in first half action at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Fri Apr 12, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The ultimate closer in the NBA did his best to weave his magic yet his team fell to the New Orleans Pelicans (49-32) Friday night in a real barn burner. Stephen Curry finished with 33 points in the loss. Klay Thompson finished with 19. Golden State (45-36) had 16 turnovers which spelled the difference in the 114-109 loss.

Over the past few months the Western Conference showed signs of having a wild finish to the season. The Golden State Warriors now find themselves in a three-way tie for eighth place with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings.

The Lakers have lost their two last games, the last one against the Warriors, and the Kings are just plain self-destructing. They take significant leads in the first half of games only to fall apart in the second half.

The Warriors are playing terrific right now winning their last three games in a row. The Warriors need to win out, the Lakers beat the Grizzlies earlier Friday night with their last game against the Pelicans.

The Kings lost the Suns and have the Trail Blazers up next. All three will be faced with play-in games. The Warriors have had 25 road wins this season and the Pelicans have had 27 road wins and will looking for number 28 tonight.

Friday night the Warriors welcomed the Pelicans to Chase Center. The Pelicans are one game ahead of the Phoenix Suns so both of these teams have a lot at stake. New Orleans wants to avoid the play-in game.

Golden State set the pace in this game from the start leading 26-17 after the first 12 minutes. Seven minutes into the second quarter, however, it all went south and the Warriors 11 point lead had dissolved.

This game was tied at 38 and the tide in this game had done a complete reversal. With three minutes left in the half, the Pelicans really started rolling taking a 53-42 lead. The Warriors had nine turnovers in the second quarter alone.

The Pelicans were 10 of 13 from downtown in the second quarter leading 59-43 and had turned this game completely around in their favor. At the half New Orleans had taken a 62-48 lead. The Pelicans had outscored the Warriors in the second quarter 42-22 and Golden State had a lot of work to do in the second half with New Orleans totally dominating the game.

The Warriors would need some serious adjustments in the second half. A good place to start would be putting the skids on the turnovers. They had 9 turnovers in the second quarter and only 2 in the opening quarter.

The Pelicans had shot beautifully from beyond the arc finishing the half with 11 scored to the Warriors five. Golden State needed to protect the ball in the second half and get their three-ball going.

The Warriors got a better start in the third quarter but the Pelicans continued to hang onto a double digit lead. The third quarter began to feel more like the first when Golden State had the advantage. As this game went deeper into the third quarter, the Warriors had trimmed the Pelicans 14 point lead to five points 71-66.

Golden State was playing some outstanding defense doing their best to contain Zion Williamson and they were doing a great job. They were also guarding the three ball better putting the stops on New Orleans shooting. There would be no room for error heading into the fourth quarter with New Orleans leading 88-75.

The Warriors really needed their three ball, but the Pelicans are one of the top teams in the NBA when it comes to guarding the three so it would not be easy. The Warriors continued to play hard which started to pay off when the Pelicans made some rare mistakes and started missing those three’s while Golden State started to make shots from beyond the arc.

With eight minutes left in the game the Warriors were within three points of a tie 92-89 in a huge turnaround. This game was going down to the wire. With 1:02 left in the game, New Orleans had taken a 112-106 lead. Curry hit a three with 40 seconds left on the clock drawing to within three points 112-109 in this barn burner. Golden State came up just short losing 114-109.

Sunday afternoon the Golden State Warriors wrap up the 2023-24 regular season. They will take on the Utah Jazz at Chase with tipoff scheduled for 12:30 PM.