Pelicans vs. Warriors: Game 1 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 NBA Playoffs
The NBA's best team started the postseason in style. The Golden State Warriors dominated the vast majority of their Game 1 contest against the New Orleans Pelicans and overcame a late comeback attempt in a 106-99 victory.
MVP candidate Steph Curry stole the show as usual, pouring in 19 first-half points to finish with a team-high 34. After leading by 18 points at the halftime break, the Warriors pushed their advantage to 25 late in the third quarter.
Despite being held in check for most of the game, Anthony Davis shined in his playoff debut, scoring more than half of his 35 points in the fourth quarter. His late dominance allowed the Pelicans to cut the gap to just four points in the final minute, but time ran out on New Orleans' shocking comeback bid.
Draymond Green added 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Klay Thompson contributed 21. The Warriors had all five starters finish in double figures as they took a 1-0 series lead. But there's no doubt that their winning effort hinged upon another huge game from Curry, whose shoe seemed to foreshadow what type of game he was going to have Saturday, per NBA on ESPN:
Saturday marked the dawn of a new season for Golden State, which has been playing for show over the last several weeks with its top seed long secured. It also marked the playoff debut of head coach Steve Kerr, so it wasn't surprising to hear of some nervousness before the game—even from the NBA's best team.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports noted Kerr's pregame jitters:
If there was any nervousness on Golden State's part once the game started, it didn't show.
The Warriors laid a haymaker in the opening quarter of the series in what was a sign of things to come. Behind 11 first-quarter points from Curry, Golden State sprinted out to a 28-13 lead after 12 minutes of play.
And it's not like the Pelicans were making things easy. Davis lurked most of the time, but it didn't matter much with Curry knifing through the defense and his teammates spreading the floor. As The Indianapolis Star's Gregg Doyel noted, it looked simple for the point guard:
Curry added to his growing highlight reel with a ridiculous layup around Davis' outstretched arm:
What seemed to be a striking mismatch for the Pelicans made itself apparent, with Curry and Thompson creating gaping holes in the paint by driving and forcing help defense from New Orleans. The Pelicans were gashed by the Warriors' penetration and ball movement, which may be putting it lightly.
Zach Harper of CBS Sports wasn't sure what it was attributed to, but he noticed the out-of-sync Pelicans frontcourt:
Without Davis making the impact that he usually does, the Warriors had no trouble keeping their comfortable lead throughout the second quarter. And when Davis picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, head coach Monty Williams decided Davis would ride the pine for a few minutes and hope his team held on.
Well, it didn't. The Warriors dominated with Davis on the bench, eventually pushing the lead to 25. That left Nate Duncan of BasketballInsiders.com questioning the decision:
As you'd expect, a plethora of Curry three-pointers and dipsy-doo layups helped to extend the lead as the MVP favorite's skill set was on display once again. As the game threatened to get out of hand, Curry launched up a good look and backtracked only to see it hit iron—provoking the following proclamation from ESPN Insider Tom Haberstroh:
It never gets noticed quite the same, but Curry's defensive improvements were on display as well with him helping to limit New Orleans' guards. Bill Simmons of ESPN doesn't think we would have seen that a year ago:
The Warriors thought they put the game away in the third, but Quincy Pondexter's buzzer-beating three made it an 18-point game entering the final frame. That gave the Pelicans a sliver of hope, which turned into a nervous Oracle Arena over the last several minutes.
New Orleans trimmed the deficit to 11 early in the fourth, but reinsertion of the starters allowed for the Warriors to keep control of their lead. Davis went off late to make it just a two-possession game down the stretch. He produced an incredible alley-oop—even if it wasn't enough to complete a miraculous comeback:
Although there wasn't really a doubt before, as DeAntae Prince of Sports Illustrated observed, at least now we have tangible playoff proof that Davis is the real deal:
"Fourth quarter confirms what we already knew: Anthony Davis is going to be a monster.
— DeAntae Prince (@DeAntae) April 18, 2015"
With his team's lead evaporating, Kerr couldn't keep Curry on the bench late like he did so many times during the season, but perhaps he was simply saving him, as Grantland's Jason Concepcion noted:
There would be no choke job as the Warriors escaped with the win, but letting a 25-point lead slip to just four in the closing moments was nonetheless jarring to see from the 67-win Warriors—a team that built a reputation on blowout victories during the season.
But despite a far-from-perfect fourth quarter, it's hard to ignore the irony in Golden State having so many improvements to make despite another convincing performance, as Hardwood Paroxysm analyzed:
The Warriors inevitably have a lot to work on if they don't want that fourth quarter to carry over into Game 2, especially since they're not going to hold down Davis for three quarters for most of this series. But if anything, needing to make improvements will keep Golden State grounded enough to keep focus.
Just as well, New Orleans can move forward in the series confident of its chances. Despite playing poorly for so much of the opening game, the Pelicans were right there late.
But after executing their game plan to perfection for so much of Game 1 and having their star player begin the postseason in style, the Warriors—still—look the part of the NBA postseason favorite.
