NBA scores 2015: Stephen Curry is an offense onto himself and 3 other things we learned

Curry outscored the Pelicans in the third quarter and finished with 53 points in the most dominant performance of the season so far.

by Jeje Gomez

Nov 1, 2015, 1:01 PM UTC

Stephen Curry is a monster, so it's fitting that he came out to play on Halloween night. He dropped 53 points — one shy of a career-high — to power the Warriors to a 134-120 win against the Pelicans, which will be having nightmares about what happened on Saturday for weeks. Anthony Davis had 26 points, 15 rebounds and four assists but the heir apparent to the throne of "best player in the game" once again couldn't match the impact of the reigning MVP.

Curry had a very good first half, with 15 points in eight shots and four assists. It was a shootout but the Pelicans were somehow hanging in there despite a modest performance by Davis thanks to the combined efforts of Jrue Holiday and Ryan Anderson. After two losses, including one against the Warriors in the first game of the season, they seemed determined to get their first win of the year. At the half they were up by one 65-64 and probably feeling good about their chances.

They had no idea what was about to happen to them.

Curry started the quarter with a crazy no-look assist to Harrison Barnes (see "play of the night" below) just to see if he could, it seems. Then the barrage started. Curry had three three-pointers in under two minutes and went on to outscore the entire Pelicans team in the third quarter 28-26. He finished the second half with 38 points on 19 shots.

Russell Westbrook has started the year on a tear and Kevin Durant is back. James Harden got some deserved consideration last season. LeBron James won't likely play all 82 games but if he does, his brilliance could get him in the running for MVP. Right now, however, they are all chasing Curry, who could win back-to-back awards if he continues to have performances like this one.

3 other things we learned

If you call Carmelo Anthony overrated, he will remember and embarrass you

Remember when Jared Dudley said Carmelo Anthony was the most overrated player in the league? Carmelo remembered.

Carmelo, on Jared Dudley's comment abt him being most overrated player in NBA: "It got back to me... I had this gm circled on my calendar."
— Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) noviembre 1, 2015

Anthony went off for 37 points on just 18 shots, including four three-pointers. He had 11 in the fourth quarter to match Bradley Beal and secure the win for the Knicks. Dudley had zero points on his team's first loss of the year. Next time someone asks him if Carmelo is overrated, he will think twice about answering.

The Pacers are struggling to adapt to their new identity

As soon as last season ended, Larry Bird set out to transform the Pacers. The plodding Roy Hibbert was no longer welcome and David West left in free agency to join a contender, as Indiana chased Monta Ellis. The idea was to use Paul George at power forward and go from being a grind-it-out defensive squad to an offensively-oriented small-ball juggernaut.

So far, things haven't gone as planned. The Pacers fell to 0-3 after a 19-point home loss to the Jazz on Saturday.

Indiana is playing much faster and smaller but is not reaping the rewards on offense and is hemorrhaging points on defense. The Pacers have an offensive rating of 92.8 in three losses this season while opponents have scored almost 110 points per 100 possessions. Everybody knew it would take them a while to get used to this new identity, but it might be longer than originally expected. It’s early in the season but their chances of making the playoffs don’t look good if things don’t improve soon.

The Kings finally have some fight in them

The Kings had a great first half on their matchup against the Clippers. They controlled the boards, DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo handled the scoring and they only trailed by four points heading to the break. Unfortunately, Cousins was declared out for the night with a sore Achilles, which put a damper on any expectations of an upset.

Surprisingly, the Kings withstood a couple of runs by the Clippers and kept the game close until the end by going small with Rondo and Darren Collison on the court together and Rudy Gay at power forward. Instead of fading without their star, like they did last season, they fought. Had a couple of calls gone the other way, they might have stolen a road game against a contender.

If Cousins misses several games, the Kings are doomed. He’s too good to replace. If the injury is not serious, however, they seem to have the talent and the temperament to survive his injury, unlike in years past.

Play of the night

The play that started the onslaught. Curry somehow knew where Harrison Barnes was despite losing control of the ball and found him with a ridiculous over-the-head pass. It’s unfair how good he is.