NBA Games of the Week: Epic blowout potential
By Chazz Scogna
Sunday, Oct. 29: Detroit at Golden State, 8:30 p.m. EST
On Friday, the Warriors faced the Pelicans. In the first half, the Pelicans were one 3-pointer shy of matching a franchise record of 11 made in a half. They shot 60 percent from 3-point land in that half, too. When the buzzer rang after the second quarter, the Pelicans led 64-61. They lost by eight.
The point: Barring an 80-point half like the Cavs did in Game 4 of the Finals, or the Dubs decide to rest everyone, they’re always in play for a 40-point win. If the Pelicans don’t have a historic shooting half, that margin would be double-digits easily. Really, like the Suns, this entire list could have been teams the Warriors faced, but for the sake of fun and rooting for something else, we’ll just limit it to the one matchup.
The Warriors do rest their starters when they’re up big so they’re always vulnerable to the garbage time cover. But, they boast greater depth this year with more veteran players, so if they entered the fourth quarter up 30, there’s no reason they can’t stretch it to 40.
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The Warriors are constantly reminding us just how talented they are. The Pelicans still couldn’t pull away enough to even warrant a two-possession lead. Most fans will think the Warriors ruined in the NBA, but in about 20 years, we’ll look back and marvel at just how dominant, and serendipitous, this Warriors team actually was.