What we learned as Warriors bounce back with win over Hornets
Two days after losing to the reeling 76ers in Philadelphia, the Warriors took the court Monday in Charlotte against a Hornets team that had lost 14 of its last 17 games.
Easy money for Golden State? Hardly.
It took a second-half outburst from intermittently slumping veteran Buddy Hield for the Warriors to create enough space to exhale and walk out of Spectrum Center with a 119-101 victory over the Hornets.
Five Warriors scored in double figures, led by Hield’s 22 points. Stephen Curry totaled 21, Brandin Podziemski had 19, Draymond Green 16 and Jimmy Butler 13.
Golden State (33-28) moved into sixth place in the Western Conference after winning for the eighth time in 10 games since acquiring Butler.
The win came with some concern, though, as Gary Payton II took a blow to the face midway through the third quarter, was helped into the locker room and did not return.
Here are three observations from a game that was perilously close before the Warriors recovered from 6-of-28 shooting from deep in the first half to go 12 of 22 after intermission:
Buddy Shows Up
Hield has been either white-hot or ice cold lately, making at least five triples in four of his last 10 games, while combining to shoot 7 of 32 in the other six.
After draining 1 of 3 from distance in the first half, Hield was 4 of 6 in the second half. When the Hornets pulled within three (75-72) with 2:30 remaining in the third quarter, Hield went to work, scoring back-to-back triples in the final 73 seconds to put the Warriors up 12.
That jolt of momentum seemed to steady Golden State, which outscored Charlotte 33-24 to pull away in the fourth quarter.
