Warriors obliterate Pelicans 138-87 in 51-point demolition

The Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans 138-87 on Monday night, a 51-point margin that is the largest in the NBA this season, ESPN reported. Yves Lendeborg led the Warriors with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Derion Queen scored 16 for the Pelicans.

The Warriors improved to 8-3, tied for the best record in the Western Conference. The Pelicans fell to 4-7 and have lost three straight. The game was played at Chase Center in San Francisco.

Golden State led 35-20 after one quarter, 72-42 at halftime and 112-64 after three. The 51-point final margin was the largest in the NBA since the Thunder beat the Trail Blazers by 62 in January 2024. It was the largest Warriors win since a 57-point victory over the Kings in 2019.

The Warriors did this without Steph Curry, who sat with a sprained right ankle. Curry is averaging 24.1 points and 5.8 assists and has missed three games this season. The Warriors have won all three. Their net rating without Curry is plus-12.4, better than their rating with him, a statistical quirk that will not last but reflects how deep the roster has become.

Lendeborg, the 7-foot-1 center the Warriors acquired from Philadelphia in the offseason, has been the addition that changed the team. He is averaging 18.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, and he gives the Warriors something they have not had since Andrew Bogut in 2015: a rim protector who can switch on the perimeter. The Warriors’ defense is allowing 101.3 points per 100 possessions, first in the league by a margin of 4.2 over second-place San Antonio.

The Pelicans are a disaster. They traded Brandon Ingram to Toronto in the offseason and Zion Williamson has played four games because of a hamstring injury that the team has not put a timeline on, The Athletic reported. Williamson’s career follows a pattern: he is healthy for stretches, produces at an All-NBA level, and then gets hurt. He has played 70 games in a season once in five years. The Pelicans built their roster around him and Ingram, and now Ingram is gone and Williamson is in the training room.

The Pelicans’ offense on Monday was the worst in the league this season. They shot 31% from the field and 18% from three. They committed 24 turnovers. They scored 20 points in the first quarter and 22 in the second and never threatened. Queen, the rookie center from LSU, was the only Pelican who looked like he belonged on an NBA court. He blocked three shots and scored 16 on 7-of-14 shooting. He is averaging 11.2 points and 1.8 blocks and is the one bright spot on a team that has none. The Pelicans have their own first-round pick in 2026 and owe none, which means another year of losing gives them another chance at a franchise player. They need it more than they need anything else.

The Warriors’ depth is the story of their season. Coach Steve Kerr plays 11 players and all of them are in the rotation. Jonathan Kuminga, the 22-year-old forward who was the seventh pick in the 2021 draft, is averaging 16.4 points off the bench. Brandin Podziemski, the second-year guard, is averaging 12.1 points and 5.3 rebounds. Trayce Jackson-Davis, the rookie center from Indiana, is shooting 68% from the field. Kerr has more talent than he has minutes, and the competition for playing time has made everyone better.

Kerr’s system is the same one that won four championships: ball movement, player movement, threes. The difference this year is the defense. The Warriors were 19th in defensive rating last season and are first this year. Lendeborg is part of it, but so is Draymond Green, who at 34 is having his best defensive season since 2017. Green is averaging 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocks and is the quarterback of the defense, calling out switches and coverages from the back line. He and Lendeborg form a frontcourt that can switch everything, and the Warriors switch everything.

The Western Conference race is going to be a fight all season. The Warriors, Spurs and Lakers are all 8-3 or better. The Rockets are 8-3. The Mavericks are 7-4 with Cooper Flagg playing like a star. The Thunder, who won 68 games last season, are 6-4 and have not hit their stride. Seven teams could win 55 games, and only six will make the playoffs out of the West. The Warriors’ depth and defense are the reasons they will be one of them.

What I think

The Warriors are back. Not the Curry-and-Klay Warriors, who are gone. These are the Lendeborg-and-Green Warriors, and they might be better. The defense is the best in the league and the offense does not need Curry to score 138. Kerr has built a roster where everyone can play, and the result is a team that wins by 51 when its best player sits. That is what depth looks like, and depth is what wins in May.

The Pelicans should trade Williamson. I have been saying this for two years and I will keep saying it. He is a great player who cannot stay healthy, and the team has wasted five years waiting for him to be something he is not. Trade him while he has value, start over with Queen, and stop pretending that the Zion era is going to work. It is not. It never was.