The Warriors will look to extend their dominant regular season run to the playoffs.
The Pelicans sneaked into the playoffs with a gutsy win over the Spurs in the final game of the season. Their reward? A series against the best team in the league. The Warriors are fresh off a historically-good regular season run and will look to continue their dominant pace in the playoffs. For the Pelicans, just being there is its own reward, but competing and stretching the series would show the rest of the league they will be a force to be reckoned with sooner rather than later.
Anthony Davis is the main attraction in New Orleans.The Pelicans have built a potent offense around him, and now that they are healthy, they could get the consistency they need to improve on defense. No one expects them to win, so they should be playing loose, which can work to their advantage. If they avoid a sweep, they can consider their first foray into the playoffs a success.
The Warriors are simply too good to worry about being eliminated in the first round, regardless of opponent. Davis could present a problem for Draymond Green one on one, but their team defense is good enough to figure out how to limit the Pelicans. Offensively, they likely won't be able to rain threes because New Orleans makes it a point to prevent them. Yet Golden State has so many weapons that they should easily score 100 every game.
THE MATCHUP
- Warriors (67-15, expected record 65-17) vs. Pelicans (45-37, expected record 43-39)
- Warriors' offensive efficiency: 109.7 | Pelicans' offensive efficiency: 105.4
- Warriors' defensive efficiency: 98.2 | Pelicans' defensive efficiency: 104.7
- Season series: 3-1 Warriors. The Warriors dominated the regular season matchups, but Davis missed two of those games.
4 questions that'll decide this series
We asked our Warriors site Golden State of Mind and our Pelicans site The Bird Writes to give us the lowdown on these two teams.
1. What is your team's biggest advantage in this series?
Golden State of Mind: Depth is our biggest advantage. All year, it has been one of our strongest assets. Not every team has the luxury of bringing Andre Iguodala and David Lee, two former All Stars, off their bench. And it's not just those two players. Leandro Barbosa has proven to be a important cog in the Warriors' wheel, as has the offseason addition of Shaun Livingston. No other team in the league is as deep and talented as the Warriors
The Bird Writes: The Pelicans' depth will allow the team to compete with anyone. New Orleans core of Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans, Davis, Omer Asik and Ryan Anderson have played in only 18 games together. When all of the team’s weapons are available, as they currently are heading into the playoffs, the Pelicans will not require solid contributions from all of their big guns. This, along with the additions of Dante Cunningham, Quincy Pondexter and Norris Cole, makes New Orleans a very dangerous opponent.
2. What is your team's biggest disadvantage in this series?
Golden State of Mind: I would say inexperience is our biggest disadvantage. This team has never been to a conference finals, let alone the championship itself.
The Bird Writes: The Pelicans team defense still suffers from too many bouts of inconsistency. On the whole, it’s improved since the All-Star break, but the defensive rating still finished in the bottom half of the league during this span (18th). In their four meetings during the regular season, the Warriors averaged 113 points per game. The only win came when New Orleans held Golden State to 100 points and Klay Thompson was completely ineffective.
3. Who is the X-Factor that needs to step up?
Golden State of Mind: Klay Thompson needs to prove that his All Star selection was not a one year thing. He has shown pure, absolute brilliance (37 point quarter, what??!) but at times he has slumped and been held to low-scoring stretches. If he can play at his peak for the entirety of the playoffs, Stephen Curry will have a true second banana running partner and the Warriors should go far.
The Bird Writes: Jrue Holiday. Next to Anthony Davis, he is the Pelicans' best two-way player. Facing the Splash Brothers requires limiting, or at the very least, matching their output. Everyone remembers the most recent NOP-GSW meeting because the Pelicans walked away the winner just weeks ago, but their Dec. 14 matchup was more telling. Without Davis, the Pelicans were seconds away from victory thanks to the Holiday/Evans backcourt matching Curry/Thompson blow for blow.
4. What is your prediction?
Golden State of Mind: The Warriors are too deep, too talented, and too hungry to lose this series. They have the better coach, the better bench, the better superstar (sorry AD, it's not yet your time) and home court advantage. Warriors in five.
The Bird Writes: The Warriors will win in 6 games. As was the case all season, the Pelicans showed an ability to beat any team any given night (see their wins over Atlanta, Golden State and San Antonio). However, before and after these moments of brilliance, New Orleans mixed in a number of very average performances, losing games they shouldn’t have. In this series, I believe they’ll win a couple of games, but asking them to steal any more than one in Oracle or to defend their home floor throughout is asking too much out of this inexperienced squad.
Predictions
Ziller | Flannery | Prada | O'Donnell | Golden State of Mind | The Bird Writes |
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SCHEDULE (all times ET)
Game 1: Saturday, April 18. Oracle Arena, Oakland CA. 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
Game 2: Monday, April 20. Oracle Arena, Oakland CA. 10:30 p.m. (TNT)
Game 3: Thursday, April 23. Smoothie King Center, New Orleans LA. 9:30 p.m. (TNT)
Game 4: Saturday, April 25. Smoothie King Center, New Orleans LA. 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 5 (if necessary): Tuesday, April 28. Oracle Arena, Oakland CA. TBA.
Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, May 1. Smoothie King Center, New Orleans LA. TBA.
Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, May 3. Oracle Arena, Oakland CA. TBA.
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1ERnEUZ
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