West Notes: Warriors, Steph Curry, Pelicans, CJ McCollum, Kings

Warriors

The Warriors have been struggling mightily recently, leading you to believe they are ripe for a trade. As constructed, most rival GMs seem to think they can’t even win a play-in game — if they get even that far.

In Sunday’s loss to the Raptors, they trailed 76-49 at halftime after falling behind by a 7-0 count. Keep in mind this game was at Golden State.

“We got punched in the mouth right away,” coach Steve Kerr said. “They just took it to us.”

Individually, Steph Curry gave his worst showing of the season, scoring nine points on a miserable 2-of-14 shooting. He went 0-of-9 on 3-pointers.

• In case you missed it, forward Draymond Green has returned to practice after serving an NBA suspension and is expected to play next week. He said NBA commissioner Adam Silver talked him out of retiring altogether. (Full post)
• Former Warriors GM Bob Myers is helping the NFL’s Washington Commanders in their coaching search, as we relayed here.

Pelicans

The Pelicans walloped the Kings in Sacramento on Sunday, using a teamwide effort and 30 points from guard CJ McCollum.

“It was beautiful … just wire to wire,” coach Willie Green said. “It was fun basketball to watch. They executed on both ends of the floor.”

• New Orleans did it without power forward Zion Williamson, who sat with a quad contusion. “Guys did a great job of moving the ball around, setting great screens for me, allowing me to maintain rhythm and balance and let me shoot the ball with confidence,” McCollum said.
• Added forward Brandon Ingram: “We had some good IQ on the floor. Where (McCollum) was hiding, we kept feeding him the basketball. He felt comfortable and we just kept feeding him, so we always try to go to what’s hot.”
• Williamson is “doing good,” Green said before the game, suggesting that the big man is day-to-day.

Kings

The Kings were booed loudly when trailing the Pelicans by 50 points at home on Sunday. Point guard De’Aaron Fox shot just 1-of-10 for the game.

“Give New Orleans a lot of credit,” coach Mike Brown said. “They came in here and they just flat-out kicked our (butts), and did it for four quarters.

“For us to perform that way and the lack of fight to get back in the game, stay in the game … was nonexistent,” Brown said.

• Sacramento has lost all four matchups vs. New Orleans this season. It now embarks on a brutal stretch with 12 of the next 14 games on the road, including multiple stops on the East Coast.