The Golden State Warriors and the New Orleans Pelicans will do battle at the Chase Center in round four of the 2024-25 NBA season on Wednesday morning.
Both teams head into this one off the back of respective defeats last time out and will be looking to get themselves back on track immediately with a victory here.
Match preview
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After flying out of the blocks with emphatic wins over the Portland Trailblazers and the Utah Jazz, the Golden State Warriors were sent crashing back down to earth courtesy of a 112-104 defeat against the Los Angeles Clippers in Monday's heavyweight meeting.
Despite recording their highest first-quarter points (34) of the campaign so far, Steve Kerr's men were down by five points midway through the contest before going on to narrowly lose both quarters after the interval.
Following back-to-back 20-point games to kick off his Warriors stint, Buddy Hield had an underwhelming outing as he managed just eight points on 3-14 shooting to go along with six rebounds and two assists.
Steph Curry also had a sub-par performance by his usual standards, as the Olympic gold medallist tallied just 18 points in 27 minutes of action, albeit on a decent 6-11 shooting from the field and 4-7 from beyond the three-point line.
While the Warriors would have been disappointed to see their eight-game winning run dating back to pre-season come to an end, a 2-1 record over three regular-season outings so far still represents a positive return ahead of the first of two straight matchups against the Pelicans 24 hours apart.
The Warriors are on a two-game losing streak in this fixture and will be keen to avoid a third straight defeat against Wednesday's visitors since the turn of the year after prior losses in January and April.
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Like the Golden State Warriors, the New Orleans Pelicans also raised the curtain on their regular-season journey with two wins from as many clashes before suffering a humbling defeat in their most recent involvement.
Willie Green's men downed the Chicago Bulls in their curtain-raiser thanks to a 123-111 triumph on Thursday before seeing off the threat of the Portland Trailblazers via a 105-103 victory on Saturday.
However, the Pelicans were left red-faced last time out having been on the receiving end of a blowout 125-103 defeat against the Trailblazers when the teams renewed hostilities at Moda Center on Monday.
Despite starting the game with four unreplied two-pointers to storm to an 8-0 lead after just three minutes, the Pelicans were beaten in all four quarters and trailed by as many as 24 points at one stage during the clash.
The Pelicans will need to be better on the rebounding front to stand any chance of defeating their next opponents for the third game running, as they currently rank 24th in the NBA for rebounds, while the Warriors lead the way in that category.
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Team News
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Steph Curry had to come off in the Warriors' defeat to the Clippers last time out with an ankle injury, and the NBA's all-time leader in three-pointers is a doubt here.
Should Curry be deemed unfit to participate, De'Anthony Melton could be handed a first start with his new employers, although Brandin Podziemski would also be in contention.
New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray recently underwent hand surgery which is set to keep him out of contention for over a month at the very least.
Trey Murphy III also misses out having recently progressed through the first phase of rehabilitation after a hamstring problem and is expected to return to action over the next couple of weeks.
Golden State Warriors possible starting five:
Curry, Kuminga; Wiggins, Green; Jackson-Davis
New Orleans Pelicans possible starting five:
McCollum, Ingram; Jones, Williamson; Theis
We say: Warriors to win by 7+ points
The New Orleans Pelicans have had the upper hand in this fixture of late and will be confident of securing yet another win on Wednesday.
The Warriors were defeated by a resilient Clippers side last time out, but we expect them to bounce back against the Pelicans and improve their record to 3-1.
