Game Preview: New Orleans Pelicans head West to take on the Golden State Warriors
Still looking for their first win of the adolescent season, the New Orleans Pelicans head West to the Bay to take on an embittered Golden State Warriors team.
Wounded Warriors, eh? The New Orleans Pelicans have already had the misfortune of facing the league’s most dominant superpower twice this year coming out of embarrassing Warriors’ blowout losses. First, an opening night loss to their Western Conference rival the San Antonio Spurs. Now, a loss on Saturday night to the Baby Lakers and former Warriors assistant Luke Walton.
A fully healthy and in-rhythm Dubs team is one mess; an angry and enthused Death Star Dubs team is wholly another. Granted, this Warriors team isn’t the sort of squad to thrive off of anger or malcontent. Rather, they take the pain and emotion of loss and dig further into their unique combination of style and chemistry. That’s what the Pelicans have to fear tonight.
On paper, this year’s Pelicans are a decent matchup for the Warriors. The versatility they’ve added on defense is perfectly suited to match up with the Dubs’ cavalcade of scorers. They hold a trump card in Anthony Davis that is among the most dominant individual match-ups when Draymond Green moves over to center in small lineups. The Pelicans’ shooting is more capable of hanging on this year, even if the numbers don’t back that up.
In the teams’ first match, Kevin Durant’s scoring burst in the first quarter threw the pace of play into the Warriors’ favor, and the combination of Anthony Davis and Tim Frazier weren’t enough to put the Pels back into a position to win the game. Davis was incapable of staying with Durant when the Warriors went small, and like most teams, the Pels didn’t have enough defenders to keep up with the Warriors’ various offensive options.
Tonight, at Oracle, the Pelicans will face an uphill battle on their way to win number one. Their best chance is a balanced attack on both ends, and especially to control the pace of the game. These Pels have the upside under Alvin Gentry to play as quickly as any team in the league, and the ability to toss it to AD in the post when things slow down. Cross your fingers.