The Warriors defeated the Pelicans and advance to the next round of the playoffs with a 109-98 win and a 4-0 sweep on Saturday night.
The Warriors did a great job prior to the 20-point comeback lead by All Star point guard Stephen Curry in the fourth quarter of Game 3 and simply take the win. The Warriors overwhelmed the Pelicans in scoring but All Star Anthony Davis wouldn’t give up and push hard for the Pelicans. As the team that has set the pace in the NBA practically from opening night of the season and won more games than any other in the history of the franchise, this Golden State bunch still steps into new territory each night it goes out onto the court with more to learn.
"I think just feeling the pressure at home and on the road," said rookie coach Steve Kerr. "We're a favorite with the best record. This team has playoff experience the last few years as an underdog. I think it's easier as the underdog. You just come out and run loose. When you're the favorite it's a little different feeling. So I felt that was important.
"Both home games we felt a lot of pressure. They outplayed us several segments of each game and our guys needed to respond and that was good. To come on the road and win two is a really good accomplishment and something that we can build on."
The Warriors lead by the “Splash Brothers” and Green combined for 86 points, 21 rebounds and 18 assists while shooting 30 of 53 (.567) from the field and 13 of 21 (.619) on 3-pointers. Moreover, with the Warriors tight defense, they limit the Pelicans fast break points. Curry and Green lead the first quarter for the Warriors and not letting the Pelicans fill their heads with any more cute notions of pulling off the upset. And when New Orleans put together a couple of runs to get what was a 24-point lead down to seven on a couple occasions late, Green took a feed from Curry for a tourniquet of a layup and then Thompson buried one more three.
"I'd say we reacted pretty well at the end of Game 3 being down," Kerr said. "But that was a little different because it was desperation and we just had to let it rip.
"Tonight was more indicative of the feeling of being the favorite. You play a great game. You're in control and all of a sudden you're not...Yeah, it was good composure."
Kerr told his team to focus and be serious following the morning shoot around for what he perceived was a less than laser focus.
"To be totally honest, Coach got into us," Curry said. "He didn't feel like we had a sense of urgency. But I think if you ask the players, we knew what the mission was and what was at stake."
Anthony Davis did a great job for his team leaving the game with 36 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks once again on the Warriors. So much so that Kerr embraced him at mid-court and told Davis that he was happy not to have to see him again until next November.
Finally, the Warriors are now at the top of the NBA with a lot of expectations. But this is the situation that any NBA team wants as far as building the team. They have built a team from underdogs to favorites. The team’s management did well in terms of finding the right pieces for the team’s success.
"It's a huge difference," Thompson said. "But this is the spot you want to be in. It's what we worked all summer for and all regular season. Still a long ways to go to accomplish what we want to do, but it feels a lot different."
Harder?
"No," Thompson said. "We've had a bullseye on our back the whole year, so we're used to playing as the hunted. I don't think it makes it any harder. It makes it more fun actually. It's great to have expectations."
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