Everybody had a feeling the New Orleans Pelicans season would end at the hand of the Golden State Warriors, but man wouldn’t it have been fun for it to have lasted a little bit longer? New Orleans really made a series that could have been a blowout into four very competitive games. Perhaps if they had started off fame four similarly to the way they finished it then we would be talking about a Game 5, but alas that is not the case.
New Orleans entered tonight’s matchup down 3-0 in the series, coming off a heartbreaking loss in game 3 where they blew a 20 point fourth quarter lead, and then lost it in overtime. Obviously that’s an emotionally draining loss, and it was difficult to expect the Pelicans to come out and show the same kind of energy they had shown in games one through three.
They started off sluggish, and Golden State jumped out to a quick double digit lead. Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon played well early, but eventually the Warriors were too much for a drained Pelicans squad. Their lead reached 20 points, and the writing was on the wall. New Orleans season was coming to an end tonight, and the Warriors were making sure of that. All season Golden State has closed out when they needed to, and nothing was going to change that once they smelled blood.
However, New Orleans wasn’t going down without a fight. Perhaps a player pumped them up on the bench, or maybe Monty Williams pushed the right buttons like he’s done so often before. Either way, the Pelicans came into the fourth quarter a new team, and let the Warriors knew that they weren’t getting a sweep without a fight. The Pelicans cut the lead all the way down to single digits, and it looked like they just might pull off the comeback. Then, Steph Curry happened. Boom, a 3-pointer here. Bam, an insane shot over Anthony Davis here. Follow that up with the Pelicans season long inability to stop perimeter players from getting to the rim, and Golden State reminded New Orleans that there’s a reason they’re the top ranked team in the West.
Well, it was a fun season. The Pelicans showed huge improvement throughout the year, and proved to a lot of people that they’re actually building something. They made the playoffs despite playing a brutal division, and had a very successful year with a disappointing finish. Even so, it’s hard to not see the playoffs next season with the Pelicans in it. The future is brighter than it once looked.