The Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans 138-87 tonight, and the margin was built on 55 percent shooting from the field and 48 percent from three — 50-of-91 and 21-of-44, with 17-of-19 at the line and 37 assists on 50 made field goals. Nobody needed a heroic workload: no Warrior played more than 28 minutes, and Stephen Curry reached a team-high 25 points on ten shots. The grade that is the story belongs to Yaxel Lendeborg, who went 8-of-10 with a perfect night from three and finished two points off the team high.
Curry and Lendeborg Needed 20 Shots Between Them for 48 Points
Yaxel Lendeborg — A-. 23 points on ten field-goal attempts, 8-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-4 from three, with seven rebounds, four assists and a plus-34 in 27 minutes. That is 2.3 points per shot he took. His season rate through ten games is 21.2 points in 32.3 minutes on 50.4 percent shooting and 40.4 percent from deep, so tonight was more production in five fewer minutes at a level of efficiency he has not sustained. Two turnovers against four assists is the only blemish, and it is a small one. His 37-point night on Nov. 1 was the louder game; this was the better one.
Stephen Curry — A-. 25 points on ten field-goal attempts in 20:49, going 6-of-10 overall, 4-of-7 from three and 9-of-9 at the free-throw line, with five rebounds and a single turnover. At 2.5 points per attempt he was the most efficient scorer on the floor, and he did it in 20:49 — tied with Draymond Green for the fewest minutes of any starter. His season rate is 31.3 points in 29.6 minutes, so he was comfortably above his own per-minute scoring in a game that did not need him after halftime. Two assists is low against his 4.6 average, which is what keeps this from an A.
Brandin Podziemski — B+. 25 points on 19 shots, 10-of-19 from the field and 5-of-11 from three, with four assists and zero turnovers in 26:17. The shooting percentages both sit above his season marks of 47.4 and 39.2, and 25 points is a full nine above his 15.8-point average. But 19 attempts for 25 points is 1.3 points per shot, the thinnest return of any Warrior who scored in double figures tonight, and two rebounds against a 5.4 average is a real drop. The clean sheet on turnovers is what earns the plus.
The Bench Built the Margin Before Garbage Time Arrived
Charles Bassey — B+. A double-double in 18:04 — 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and ten rebounds, three of them offensive. His season line is 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in 11.8 minutes, so he beat his own rate on both counts per minute, not merely on the extra time. We argued last week that Bassey should be starting at center, and 12 and 10 on 75 percent shooting is the kind of night that makes the argument for itself.
De’Anthony Melton — B+. 16 points on 11 shots, 5-of-11 overall and 4-of-8 from three, with four rebounds, three assists and one turnover in 26:14. Against a season rate of 9.4 points in 21.8 minutes on 40.3 percent shooting, this was his most efficient volume night of the stretch — 1.45 points per attempt from a player whose field-goal percentage has been the weak spot in an otherwise useful season.
Al Horford — B+. Five points on five shots is unremarkable. Six assists and no turnovers in 15 minutes, with three blocks and two steals, is not. His season averages are 1.4 assists, 0.75 blocks and 0.25 steals a game; he cleared all three in fifteen minutes. The two rebounds against a 4.3 average and the 2-of-5 shooting are why this is not higher, but the passing and the rim protection in a short shift were the best per-minute work by any Warriors reserve.
Draymond Green — B. Six assists against two turnovers in 20:49, with three rebounds and a 1-of-1 night for two points. His season rate is 7.8 assists and 3.3 turnovers in 27.5 minutes, which means his passing held almost exactly at his level per minute while his turnovers came in below it. Three rebounds against a 5.1 average is the one figure under his line. He did his job in a game that asked little of him.
Georges Niang — B. Nine points on seven shots, 4-of-7 from the field and 1-of-3 from three, with two rebounds and two assists in 18:38. That tracks his season rate of 8.2 points in 20.7 minutes almost exactly, at a shooting percentage above his 47.8. His plus-eight was the lowest of any Warrior who played at least eighteen minutes in a 51-point win, which is worth noticing without letting it move the grade.
Graham Ike — B-. Four points on four shots in exactly 12 minutes, with five rebounds — four of them offensive — plus two assists and a block. Four offensive boards in 12 minutes is well clear of his 2.4 total rebounds a game in 9.7 minutes, and that is the whole case for the grade. The scoring was flat against a 5.0-point average, and one turnover in a low-usage shift is a minor cost.
Three Nights That Did Not Match the Scoreline
Gui Santos — C+. Scoreless from the field on three attempts, with his three points coming 3-of-4 at the line, across 20:52. Against a 6.6-point average that is a bad night of scoring and there is no reading around it. What holds the grade up is everything else: seven rebounds against a 3.6 average, four assists against 1.1, and no turnovers at all. He was useful in four of the five columns that matter and absent in the one readers look at first.
LJ Cryer — C. Ten points on nine shots, 4-of-9 overall and 2-of-6 from three, with three assists and no rebounds in 20:11. This was by a wide margin the largest workload of his season — he has averaged 4.3 minutes across seven games — and the return was 1.1 points per attempt and an empty rebound column over a third of the game. His 2.6 points a game in 4.3 minutes is actually a faster scoring rate per minute than he managed tonight. Given the chance, he did not take it.
Malevy Leons — C-. Scoreless on one shot in 12 minutes, with three rebounds, a block and a turnover. His season line is 0.4 points in 3.6 minutes, so nothing here is out of character for a deep-bench forward, and the three rebounds and the block are genuine. But 12 minutes without a point in a game decided by 51 is the thinnest contribution of the night, and the turnover means the ledger is not quite neutral.
Under the Minutes Floor, and Who Sat
Brandon Williams — 1:39, 2-of-3 from the field for four points. Too little time to grade.
Gary Payton II — did not play. The game report lists him DND, injury/illness.
No judgment adjustment was applied to any grade tonight. Every letter above rests on the minutes and production in the box score, with no reliable play-by-play available to support a case the numbers do not already make.
How We Grade
| Grade | What it means |
|---|---|
| A | Won them the game |
| B | Did his job, at his level or better |
| C | Neutral — present, not decisive |
| D | They were worse for his minutes |
| F | Actively cost them the game |
Grades weigh production against opportunity and against each player’s own rate through 10 games, plus up to half a grade of judgment, noted where used.
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