Stephen Curry threw his arm in the air in delight and body bumped teammates after knocking down shots from all over the floor, and it all looked so familiar to what happened here only four months ago.
The NBA MVP showed in a hurry he hasn't lost a step or his swagger, scoring 40 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 111-95 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night to open their title defence.
Curry put on a shooting clinic, hitting seven of his first nine shots with four three-pointers for 24 first-quarter points. He finished 14-for-26 with seven assists and six rebounds in a rematch of the first round of the play-offs that Golden State swept 4-0. It was his 10th career 40-point game.
Curry and the Warriors raised the championship banner and received their rings in an elaborate pregame ceremony featuring glitz, glow sticks and fire. Coach Steve Kerr attended, then left for the locker room to rest his surgically repaired back as interim Luke Walton coached the team and received some advice from Kerr beforehand.
“Even just Game 1 of the Finals it was just a different feeling,” Curry said. “All that really prepared us to be able to stay in the moment, enjoy the celebration and the ceremony, have fun, joke, dance, all that stuff, but then lock in and focus on the game. It would be disappointing to leave out of here 0-1 with a ring as opposed to 1-0. The mood is a lot better and we want to keep that vibe going.”
First-year New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry took part in the festivities and received a rousing ovation, as he was Golden State’s associate head coach before departing for the Big Easy.
Kerr said beforehand he isn’t sure when he will be back on the bench but plans to go on the team’s weekend road trip to the Houston Rockets and New Orleans.
“It’s killing me not to be out there tonight,” he said. “I’ve got to be patient and that’s probably not my greatest virtue right now.”
Golden State built a 10-point half-time lead and were never threatened the rest of the way to win their 19th straight home game dating to January 31 and match the franchise record set last season.
Anthony Davis, who averaged 29.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in two games against Golden State last season, shot 4-for-20 and scored 10 of his 18 points on free throws. In his Pelicans debut, Kendrick Perkins battled Andrew Bogut down low and made all five of his field-goal tries for 10 points.
Curry walked out to receive his ring to chants of “M-V-P!” from the raucous sellout crowd in blue 2015 champion T-shirts, then thanked the fans.
“This is an unbelievable day,” Curry said. “I got kind of goosebumps kind of reliving all the moments that we had.”
Curry had the second-most points by a reigning MVP in an opener since 1963/64, according to STATS. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Milwaukee Bucks scored 41 on October 13, 1972, against the Phoenix Suns.
“Some of those shots that Steph made, it doesn’t matter who’s out there, that’s just who he is,” Gentry said.
Curry started his seventh straight season opener, joining Jeff Mullins and Chris Mullin as the only players since 1962 – in the team’s West Coast history – to do so.
Bogut, already wearing a protective brace for a broken nose, received stitches for a laceration above his right eye.
He added 12 points, five rebounds and five assists as the Warriors began a stretch of five straight games against Western Conference play-off teams to kick off their title defence.
A moment of silence was held for former NBA coach Flip Saunders, who died Sunday.
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