Thompson: C.J. McCollum wakes up the Warriors and saves their season

SAN FRANCISCO — It was C.J. McCollum who prodded the beast. It was only right he had to deal with it.

After laying off the matchup all night, Stephen Curry had the Pelicans’ veteran guard in his sights at the top. Curry blew past McCollum to get in the paint, missing the runner but getting his own rebound. He used the extra possession to slip a no-look pass to Jordan Poole for a 3-pointer. The Warriors’ lead ballooned to seven.

The next time down, the Warriors ran a pick-and-roll between Curry and Klay Thompson. The goal was to get McCollum defending Curry again. The matchup hunting worked. This time, Curry launched a 3-pointer over McCollum. Ten-point lead.

Yeah, Curry was picking on McCollum. But what was clear in the Warriors’ locker room after the game was how McCollum brought it on himself. Curry finished with 39 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, taking over to rescue the Warriors from back-to-back gut-wrenching losses. They reclaimed the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, recaptured their home-court magic, and reminded themselves who they were.

“C.J. started talking,” Green said.

The thing about the Warriors this regular season is they haven’t been able to flip a switch and get in that zone at will. Perhaps because their best players are 30-and-up. Perhaps because they’re the defending champions and the regular season doesn’t do it for them. Perhaps because they aren’t whole, with Andrew Wiggins out and the roster missing key elements. For whatever reason, they need something to spark them.

Tuesday night, when they absolutely needed it, McCollum provided the kindle.

“It’s easy to talk when you’re up 20,” Donte DiVincenzo said. “Once it started to shift, once we took the lead in the second half, they completely shut up.”

McCollum might’ve saved the Warriors’ season. The Warriors were on the brink, so it felt. A few admitted as much after the game. Two nights after brutal mistakes down the stretch cost them a critical game against Minnesota, they were down 20 points to New Orleans.

Even worse, in a game they knew they needed desperately, they played uninspired. They were at home getting owned by the Pelicans, playing their second game in two nights.

The Warriors were just on a roll, having shifted gears in preparation for the playoffs. They won their last two games of the five-game road trip, then came home and beat Philadelphia, a contender in the Eastern Conference. This was them peaking at the right time, finding their postseason groove. So it felt. And yet, there they were, staring down a second consecutive loss at home. Both against foes in the Western Conference race to avoid the play-in. In a four-quarter span — the second half against Minnesota and the first half against New Orleans — the Warriors totaled 87 points on 42.7 percent shooting with 25 turnovers and 21 assists. At home.

A loss had the potential to do more than just end their chances at the No. 6 seed or…