Getty CJ McCollum of the New Orleans Pelicans and Jordan Poole of the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors seemed to have turned things around in recent games. After spending the majority of the season hovering around the .500 mark, they have now won four games in a row, elevating their record to 34-30 on the year.
Their latest win came on Friday night when they took down the New Orleans Pelicans. Both teams were missing their stars – Stephen Curry and Zion Williamson, respectively – but it was Golden State who came out on top. After the game, CJ McCollum sounded off on the Warriors, explaining what went wrong for his squad.
“I mean, whenever you lose, it’s not ideal. But I mean, we competed,” McCollum said via the Pelicans’ official YouTube channel. “We gave ourselves a chance. A couple plays that didn’t go our way down the stretch, but all in all, I mean, you give up 108 points. Twenty-six in the fourth. That second quarter hurt us. [In the] third quarter, the Warriors are very good. Historically, they go on runs in the third quarter. I mean, we only give up 28 points. But I think for us, it’s just about executing, trying to get stops, and then, when you’re playing against a team like that, you can’t give them two and three opportunities to score. It’s hard enough to stop them the first time, and then when they get kick-out threes, I think that makes it difficult. But all in all, I think we gave ourselves a chance. We just gotta get more stops, we got to play with more force, and we got to execute better.”
McCollum led the Pelicans in scoring against the Warriors, but he wasn’t very efficient. The veteran guard ended the night with 25 points, six rebounds, and five assists on 8-of-21 shooting from the field and 3-of-10 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Stephen Curry Return Date Announced
Golden State’s hot stretch couldn’t be coming at a better time, as they will now look to make a serious playoff push. And to make things even easier for them, it was recently revealed that Curry plans on returning to action on Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Golden State star Stephen Curry (leg) intends to make his return on Sunday on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers barring a setback, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport,” tweeted Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report.
Jordan Poole Trade Could Help Warriors
However, if things don’t go Golden State’s way in the playoffs this year, they could be forced to make some roster changes this summer. According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, trading Jordan Poole could be one of the best ways to reshape the roster and put a title team around Curry and the original core one last time.
“Golden State won’t have the cap space to sign an impact player, but it could swing a major trade if needed,” Buckley wrote. “Is there a possibly available star who might be worth sacrificing Jonathan Kuminga and his sky-high potential? Do opposing teams think they can build an offense around Jordan Poole? If they do, his trade value would be enough to anchor a blockbuster.”