By the Numbers: Champs Win Despite 0 for 10 Start for Curry

The Warriors recover from an early deficit to beat the Pelicans without Durant

Despite Curry's offensive woes, the Warriors still won.

If you are playing against the defending champions, the Golden State Warriors, with or without Kevin Durant, you can only pray that the Splash Brothers, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson woke up on the wrong side of their beds. Why? Over the past few years, we've seen them broke notable records in terms of shooting especially from behind the three-point line. Even if one of them struggles to make his shots, the other one will make up. That's how fully-weaponized the Warriors are. And yes, they are winning without Kevin Durant.

Steph Curry started this game by missing 10 consecutive shots- the first time he did that since 2012. The Warriors put themselves in a 14-point deficit. Kevin Durant is still nowhere to be found on the court. And yet, despite these woes, the Golden State Warriors won over the New Orleans Pelicans, 110-95. What happened? Below are the numbers:

Steph Curry's 27 Points

Sure, he took 25 shots and only made 9. Sure, he went 3 for 13 from the rainbow distance but these shooting woes still enabled Steph Curry to finish with 27 points to lead the Warriors in scoring. Why was this important? It's simple, folks. The Warriors played without Kevin Durrant and Draymond Green only scored 6 points so the scoring loads went back to the hands of the Splash Brothers. Klay Thompson, for his part, added 24 points on 9 for 19 shooting. 

The Warriors Shot Slightly Better

• Golden State: 41.5%
• New Orleans: 40.5%

Sure, the Pelicans were slightly better than the champs in shooting threes as evident by their 35% shooting from downtown, better than the Warriors' 30% but that doesn't away one thing: the Warriors shot slightly better than the Pelicans throughout the game despite a horrible shooting night from Steph Curry. 

How poorly the Pelicans were shooting? Jrue Holiday had 24 points but took 20 shots and only made 8 of them. Rajon Rondo went scoreless as he missed all of his 9 field goal attempts. New Orleans' bench also struggled to get anything going offensively as they only combined for 10 points. 

Conclusion

Antonio Davis top-scored with 30 points and 15 rebounds for the Pelicans but we all know that it will take more than one man to take down the Warriors. As for Golden State, they can miss more shots as long as they are making more, too. However, Steph Curry must avoid missing that much or they will eventually suffer.