Oakland, CA (Sports Network) – Monta Ellis led a balanced attack with 21 points, as the Golden State Warriors took down the New Orleans Hornets, 102-89. Dorell Wright and David Lee each added 16 points for the Warriors, who have won two in a row and six of eight overall. Stephen Curry and Vladimir Radmanovic tallied 14 and 13 points, respectively.
“We’ve been known to have some great performances then have a let down right after,” Curry said. “So for us to come out and not start the way we wanted to, but we found a way to stay in the game, our defense kept us in it all night. For us to get a win like that is huge for us especially before the All-Star break. We get another chance tomorrow to get a big win where we’ve struggled up in Utah. I’m looking forward to that opportunity.”
David West finished with 15 points and seven rebounds for the Hornets, who have dropped eight of 10. Marco Belinelli chipped in with 15 points off the bench. Chris Paul was limited to 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting in defeat.
It was actually the Hornets who controlled things early on. New Orleans scored the game’s first seven points and led 32-22 after 12 minutes. The visitors maintained control until there was eight minutes left in the half. Trailing 43-32, the Warriors put together a 15-3 run to go in front. Ellis tallied seven points during the stretch, including a three-pointer with 3:43 to go, to make it 47-46.
Golden State ended the frame on a 9-2 spurt to take a 58-53 lead into the locker room. The Hornets actually went in front early in the third, but the Warriors used an 11-2 run to take the lead back for good. Curry made a pair of three- pointers during the burst, which Lee capped with a three-point play for a 71-63 margin with 6:11 remaining.
Golden State, which led 83-71 after three, started the fourth on an 11-3 flurry to put the game away. Charlie Bell’s trey made it 94-74, and it was a double-digit game the rest of the way.
“We haven’t played at a high enough level defensively to compete,” West said.
The Warriors took two of three from the Hornets this season…Curry went 5- of-5 from the field and made all three of his three-point attempts…Golden State went 10-of-19 from three-point range, while New Orleans went 3-of-10 from beyond the arc.