2015 NBA Playoff Previews: Golden State Warriors vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Now that the regular season has ended, we’ve switched into playoff mode here at Friendly Bounce. To kick off our coverage, we’re bringing you some unique previews of every series. You’ll find a #10WordRecap of each team’s season, a recap of their season using emojis, important Vines, and reasons why they will, and won’t, win their first-round matchup.
Golden State Warriors (1): By Wes Goldberg (@wcgoldberg)
#10WordRecap
The Warriors, now more than Steph Curry with the shot.
Emoji Recap
Three Most Important Vines
Steph crossover and splash
Steph for the record
Steph’s got moves
“Woke up an optimist. Sun was shining, I’m positive.” The Warriors will win because…
From start to finish, the Golden State Warriors have been the best team in the NBA. The deserving MVP Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr lead team has evolved from a jump shooting fan favorite to a bonafide terror, closing the door on games in the third quarter on a routine and borderline-rude basis. The stats back them up too: tops in the league in offensive and defensive efficiency and on pace to finish the season with one of the 10 largest point differentials in NBA history. Simply put, the Warriors are a freaking mammoth.
“Too many Urkels on your team that’s why your wins low.” The Warriors will lose because…
The (very real) knock against the Warriors in the past has been that if Curry and Klay Thompson aren’t hitting shots, the offense is rendered toothless. That’s not the case anymore. Kerr has introduced a culture of ball movement and the defense–anchored by Draymond Green, Andre Bogut and a switching scheme–has upgraded from stout to dominant. They can slow it down or speed it up and still beat the daylights out of you. The only way this team loses in the first round is due to a major injury.
(Thinking)
Okay, maybe there is another way.
Teams are tempted to slow down the game and limit Curry and Thompson’s touches. However, the Dubs defense is too good for this strategy to garner a significant advantage. Rather, think about how college basketball teams that can’t recruit the talent of the name schools have thrived this last decade. They pick up the pace and create more possessions to regulate the talent gap over the course of the game by increasing the presence of chance. A team needs to play up-tempo, tiring out the Warriors’ switching defense to find gaps and hope that the Splash Brothers encounter a drought and they can out-shoot them. They just need to do that for four games.
New Orleans Pelicans (8): By Matt Cianfrone (@Matt_Cianfrone)
#10WordRecap
Anthony Davis had more help than people think.
Emoji Recap
Three Most Important Vines
Straight cash, homie
Insane Davis oop
Davis seals it
“Woke up an optimist. Sun was shining, I’m positive.” The Pelicans will win because…
Because Dion Waiters is so angry that he missed the playoffs that he picks a fight with basketball playing aliens that come down and steal the talent of Stephen Curry and the actual Andrew Bogut. With those two gone there is no one there to stop Anthony Davis as he goes off and averages a 40/20/10 series and takes his rightful place as the best basketball player in the world.
“Too many Urkels on your team that’s why your wins low.” The Pelicans will lose because…
At the end of the day it was amazing that the New Orleans Pelicans were able to get to this point. New Orleans battled injuries all season long as Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis, Omer Asik and Jrue Holiday all missed multiple games this season. What that leads to is a lack of continuity that can kill you against the Warriors, especially when defense is a problem for a team.
At some point New Orleans is going to blow a few defensive rotations in a row, and the Warriors will go on a run and be up double digits. The Pelicans’ youth and relative playoff inexperience won’t be able to respond well enough to overcome those deficits enough times to win four games.
Also, at the end of the day the Warriors are way more talented and in the playoffs that matters a great deal.