(Basketball news) The Golden State Warriors got a much needed victory against the New Orleans Pelicans as they beat them 120-109. For the Warriors, Stephen Curry had 39 points with eight 3-pointers, eight rebounds and eight assists, Jordan Poole added 21 points while Klay Thompson scored 17 and hit five 3s to set a new single-season career high of 278, which leads the NBA.

For the Pelicans, Brandon Ingram had 26 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Trey Murphy III scored 21 points and CJ McCollum added 15 as their 5 match winning streak ended. The Warriors moved up a spot into sixth place in the crowded Western Conference standings, a half-game up on Minnesota and 1 1/2 games ahead of New Orleans

“It was perfect, right, perfectly executed,” Green said with a grin

“We lost a heartbreaker the other night. We knew we had to bounce back,” Kerr said.

“Draymond willed us to victory tonight,” Kerr said. “His frustration early with the way we were playing. Mad at the world. Yelling at everybody, their bench, our bench, me, and frankly we all deserved it.”

“We looked dead those first 18 minutes of the game,” Kerr said. “We had to find some energy somewhere. I knew it wasn’t just going to come.”

The Washington Wizards produced a shock result as they beat the Boston Celtics 130-111. For theWizards, Kristaps Porzingis had 32 points and 13 rebounds as Deni Avdija matched a career high with 25 points and added 10 rebounds while Monte Morris scored 19 points.

For the Celtics, Jayson Tatum led the scoring with 28 points as Jaylen Brown contributed 18 points. The Wizards won despite the absence of Bradley Beal (left knee soreness) and Kyle Kuzma (right ankle sprain) and pulled within 2 1/2 games of Chicago for the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference as Washington has six games remaining in the regular season.

“Probably the best pace, for 36-to-40 minutes, that we’ve seen all year,” Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “After makes, misses, were able to accumulate quite a few fast break points. Not all those were just off of misses. So being able to play with pace and kind of get stuff early in the clock I thought helped us.”

“Trying to make the right decisions, trying to be aggressive,” Avdija said. “I guess I’m just not thinking, I’m just playing my game, making plays for others.”

“We understand the situation and the fact that that is a potential outcome. It’s not a guarantee,” Unseld said. “If we don’t get some guys back, it is what it is, but we still want to make sure whoever’s available is going to play the right way, compete at a certain standard.”

Also read: NBA: Nuggets get a win over the 76ers while Pelicans went above .500