The Warriors are up on the Pelicans 2-0 in their first-round best-of-seven series, and some things have become apparent. First and foremost, New Orleans seems incapable of winning this thing. They didn’t look like they could win it before the series started, didn’t look like they could win it after Game 1 and certainly don’t look like they can win it after the Warriors’ 97-87 win on Monday.
Perhaps the biggest reason the Pelicans can’t pull off a first-round upset is because the Warriors’ defense is just too darn good. Bottom line, it’s going to take a team with more weapons and more well-rounded players than New Orleans has. Outside of Anthony Davis, the Pelicans’ roster is downright ordinary, with too many limited players, and it’s unrealistic to believe they can win four out of the next five games.
They just can’t score enough, consistently enough, to challenge the Warriors.
On the surface, Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon appeared to be quite productive in Game 2, but therein is the issue. For as well as these two supposedly played it wasn’t nearly enough to put any real fear into the Warriors. Evans finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists but his erratic shooting (4-for-13 from the field; 7-for-12 from the line) was a big problem.
Ditto for Gordon. Yes, he went 9-for-19 from the floor, with five 3-pointers, for 23 points but let’s dissect that a little more. How about this: After the first quarter, Gordon went 5-for-14 from the field and had four turnovers. Now throw in the fact that Davis went 0-for-5 from the field in the fourth quarter and it’s easy to see why the Pelicans were shut down in the second half.
Matt Steinmetz 