Moses Moody went off tonight and dropped 32 points in a career-high night against the Pelicans. The Warriors’ young starlet hit seven of his eight three-point shots in the first quarter.
The Warriors used his scoring to fuel the win on a night where even Stephen Curry was struggling to shoot the ball. He led all scorers in the game and was one of only two players who scored 20 points or more from both sides as the Warriors won 124-106 to get their third consecutive win in a row.
Following the game, Moody spoke to the media about his performance tonight and how he managed to push himself to get it going on a night like this. He was asked about the last time he was as confident as he was tonight on the floor, when he narrated a story about his uncle, who also played basketball with him while he was growing up.
“I’ve had a couple games in G-League for sure, but I mean I’ve had some games feeling good like that in the NBA, too,” said Moody.
“That’s actually my first time having eight threes. I’ve had seven before. I’ve hit seven threes like 30 times in my life. Like I’ve done that plenty of times, but I got an uncle that told me when I was young, like that, the most he hit was eight.”
“So I’ve been trying to get it my whole life. I think he put a curse on me. I’ve never gotten it. So, I’ll probably give him this jersey or something,” said Moody with a smile after breaking that curse.
Moody stepped up on a night when Curry and the other veterans were struggling to score the ball or were busy doing other things. Jimmy Butler was the main playmaker tonight, but he had only 18 points and 10 assists in the entire game (75% from the field, shooting 6-for-8 from the field). Meanwhile, Draymond Green shot an inefficient 3-for-13 from the floor for his eight points, 10 rebounds, and six assists.
Stephen Curry seemed to finally cool off tonight for the Warriors as he only had nine points, five rebounds, and three assists, while shooting 2-for-11 from the floor (18.2%). He’s coming off multiple 45+ point games against the Spurs, and tonight Moody proved to him that he doesn’t need to carry the offensive load every night.
While this win improves the Warriors’ record to 9-6 for the season, this game should really help with the locker room morale after the veterans were urging young players to step up and show their commitment to winning.
