NEW ORLEANS -- The Golden State Warriors salvaged a lesser defensive effort by snuffing out the New Orleans Pelicans in crunch time, besting the birds 113-109.

The Warriors clamped down on the Pelicans late, not allowing them a basket in the final 4 minutes, 46 seconds. Once again, Draymond Green came up huge down defensively the stretch, ending his triple-double night with a brutal stop.

Finally, after many Warriors fans and lovers of novelty called for it, JaVale McGee made his first Golden State start. "We'll take a look at JaVale tonight," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game. "It's early in the season, and we're experimenting a bit and looking at a few different combinations."

Initially, "experiment" seemed to be a fitting description, as the Warriors opened with an approach that looked more like spitballing than rigor. After McGee scored on their first play with an impressive, soaring putback layup, Golden State's offense devolved into thoughtless passes and possessions that lacked intent.

The Warriors eventually found an offensive rhythm but started leaking points the other way. Open shots abounded for New Orleans, as the Pelicans hit 10 3-pointers out of 19 first-half tries. While Langston Galloway (20 points, 14 shots) was particularly impressive with his shot-making, Golden State's defensive effort was not. Meanwhile, Anthony Davis (28 points, 14 shots, five blocks) applied a quiet dominance that's getting routine in these meetings.

Draymond Green celebrated a triple-double and a Warriors victory following his fourth quarter stop on Anthony Davis. Derick E. Hingle/USA TODAY Sports

In the third quarter, the JaVale experiment took on more shape, as Golden State opened the half with more poise. Stephen Curry began ablaze, scoring a quick 11 points. The most impressive make came with 6:25 left in the third quarter, when Curry was completely boxed in, whirled around and uncorked an on-target deep 2-pointer. As has become a custom at Smoothie King, Curry ribbed Pelicans assistant coach (and former Warriors assistant) Darren Erman, holding his hand out for a reluctantly consummated high-five. "While I was shooting he was yelling, 'If he makes it, it's a good shot,' trying to encourage the defense," Curry recalled. "So I wanted a little praise for that good shot, and he gave it to me. He was a good sport."

After the Erman moment, Curry went cold, missing on five straight until an improbable leaning, foul-seeking missile of a foot-on-the-line jumper late in the fourth quarter. Between Curry's stints, the ultra-switchy David West-plus-length lineup (West, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson and Shaun Livingston) did not provide its usual push. The Warriors were in danger of losing to a spirited Pelicans' effort.

What ultimately closed out the game for Golden State was a nifty Curry stop-and-fade layup on Davis, later followed by two dramatic defensive plays. Down three with 34 seconds remaining, Davis got a pass on the move and seemed to have a clean shot at the rim. Instead, Durant sprang over from the weak side and swatted the offering into the air, back into Golden State hands. After a free throw, followed by an offensive board, New Orleans had another chance. This time, it was Davis isolating on Green.

Earlier in the game, Davis had emphatically rejected a Green layup, which drew much crowd response. As often happens with Green, though, his best work comes at the end of games. Though a stalwart defender throughout games, he has become especially good at seizing crunch-time moments, springing an assault on offensive players who rely on nervous, conservative defense.

With two seconds remaining, Green saw an opportunity and simply, viciously punched the ball from Davis' grasp. Davis vigorously objected to the no-call, but the play appeared fairly clean on replay. "It was definitely clean," Green proclaimed. "I hit the ball as he was trying to throw his shoulder into me, and that's what happened. And I seen the replay."

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It wasn't all aggression in this moment from Green, who finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. There was preparation, there was scouting. "I knew he wanted to drive left," Green said of Davis. "That's always when he's on that block. He probably go left 85 percent of the time on that block. So I knew he wanted to go that way. So once he opened up, which is what he do on that block, I just took a swipe at the ball."

When asked why he was so bold in that sequence, daring to risk a foul, Green explained his mentality. "We're up two and we got three of the greatest scorers in the world. So if I foul, the way I look at it is, defense is my side of the basketball, that I have to try to make everything happen on. Offense is the side of the basketball where they got to make stuff happen on. We up two points. If I foul, he gotta make two free throws. He make two free throws? It's on them to go score the ball. Come up with the steal? I made their job a little easier. That's the way I look at it."

Fortune tends to favor the bold, when it comes to Green's close-out defense. He certainly has developed a knack for the moment, or, to hear him tell it, he always had it. When asked about the first time he felt "clutch," Green responded, "The first time I felt clutch? Nah. I felt clutch my whole life."

It was another reminder of why Green, who sometimes delights in the woes of his opponents, can feel so comfortable doing so. He so often gets the last laugh.