Golden State Warriors obliterate Pelicans in game one
The Golden State Warriors begin this series with a bang, dominating the Pelicans. What were the reasons for this lop-sided outcome? And are they sustainable?
The Golden State Warriors kicked off round two of the playoffs with a decisive win over the New Orleans Pelicans. The team defeated their opponents by a score of 123-101.
Led by an astounding 41-point second quarter by the home team, the game never looked as if it was going to end in any way other than a Warriors’ victory.
Even with the game not being particularly close, this game was already more interesting than the entire series against the San Antonio Spurs.
The main reason the New Orleans Pelicans were never able to really get into the game was the lack of production from star big man, Anthony Davis. The Pelicans offense relies so heavily on Davis playing like the superstar he is that when he has a performance that is poor by his standards, such as last night’s. the team has almost no shot of contending with this Warriors team.
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Anthony Davis scored 21 points on 9-20 shooting from the field. The Warriors’ big men did a very effective job of slowing down Davis, with the performance by Kevon Looney being the most noteworthy. Looney held A.D. to a mere 2-9 shooting from the field while being guarded by him.
Is this sustainable? It is almost surely is not, as Anthony Davis is simply too talented to be held in check like this consistently. Even so, it is a very encouraging sign.
What is actually possibly sustainable and just as impressive is the defense played on Jrue Holiday in this game. This year’s playoffs have served as Holiday’s coming out party, as he played a major role in the Pelican’s domination of the Portland Trailblazers.
He was held to only 11 points on 4-14 shooting in game one. This is far less surprising than Davis’ performance since the Warriors have one of the best defensive guards in the league, Klay Thompson.
Stopping Jrue Holiday this series and forcing Anthony Davis to beat them will be a big part of the Warriors’ gameplan going forward in this series. They will likely never be able to really shut down Davis, making it a good idea to focus on stopping those around him– a more feasible task.
On the Warriors’ side, just about everything went right. The Pelicans have no one on their roster who can even come close to effectively defending Kevin Durant. The team’s best defenders are their two guards, who are too small to stay in front of Durant. Meanwhile the player who has the size who the team started the game with on Durant, Nikola Mirotic, is no where near talented enough on defense to play him.
Kevin Durant didn’t even play his best game last night and still walked away with 26 points on nearly 50% shooting. If the Pelicans do not figure out who to use to defend Durant, it will be a quick series.
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Klay Thompson continued where he left off in round one, scoring at a heavy pace, making up for the absence of Steph Curry. If Klay continues to score and defend Jrue Holiday at the pace he did in game one, he will end up being the MVP of the series.
Steph Curry is reportedly targeting a comeback in game two of the series, but if the team’s current level of play continues into game two, he may not be needed at all this series.