Warriors extend win streak to 8 with 51-point rout of Pelicans
Golden State's eighth straight win was a blowout on Monday night, and Stephen Curry's age and durability are getting a closer look.
The headline: eight straight, by 51
The Warriors beat a short-handed Pelicans team by 51 points on Monday night for their eighth consecutive win, per ESPN.
Three numbers stand out:
- 51: the margin of victory.
- 25: points for Curry, in 20-plus minutes.
- 23: points for Yaxel Lendeborg.
I'd flag two caveats. The Pelicans were short-handed, so this game says more about the Warriors' ceiling than about their typical night. And FACTS don't include a full box score, so I won't guess at the shooting splits or the rest of the rotation.
Still, the minutes-to-points ratio for Curry is the interesting part. Twenty-five points in 20-plus minutes is efficient output for limited load. My hypothesis is that a lopsided game like this lets a coaching staff protect its veteran's workload. That's a theory, not something the reporting says.
Lendeborg's 23 points are worth watching as well. One game is noise, but a second scorer showing up in a blowout is the kind of signal I'd track over the next few games.
The long view: Curry and Durant at 38
ESPN also ran a feature on the longevity of Curry and Kevin Durant. More than a decade after their brief time as teammates, both are 38 and still performing near the top of their games. The piece asks how long each can keep it up.
The feature and the blowout complement each other. Curry is 38, produced 25 points in 20-plus minutes on Monday, and has the Warriors riding an eight-game streak. If the piece's premise holds, that kind of efficiency may be what extends a career at this age.
The bigger question is whether Golden State can keep Curry's minutes in this range when games are tight. A 51-point margin makes that easy. The next close game will be the real test of the system.