Pelicans at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors smashed franchise records en route to the best record in the NBA but the real work has yet to begin. The top-seeded Warriors will start that work when they host the No. 8 seed New Orleans Pelicans in Game 1 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs on Saturday.
The Pelicans battled all the way down to the last day of the regular season to lock up the No. 8 spot and have been in playoff mode for weeks while Golden State long ago clinched its position at the top of the West. Instead of sitting its starters for the final two weeks of the season, the Warriors kept their foot on the gas as much as possible and finished out the season with four straight wins. The streak gave them a Western Conference-record 39 home wins. “To get to this number of wins is really surprising, especially in the West,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “Everything has gone well. Our players have played exceptionally well, both individually and as a team. We’ve also been pretty fortunate health-wise. It’s just been one of those years where it has all come together, and it’s been a lot of fun.”
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC
ABOUT THE PELICANS (45-37): New Orleans leaned on star forward Anthony Davis down the stretch and the 22-year-old delivered 31 points and 13 rebounds in the finale to push the Pelicans to a 108-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs, giving them the victory they needed to outlasted the Oklahoma City Thunder. "I'm just proud of these guys, proud of our coaching staff," Davis told reporters. "We've been through adversity all year. We've made the playoffs, we've reached our goal but it's not over. We have to go to Golden State.” One of New Orleans’ key wins down the stretch came on April 7, when Davis went for 29 points and 10 boards in a 103-100 home win over the Warriors.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (67-15): That loss at New Orleans was the final setback of the season for Golden State, which became the 10th team in NBA history to reach 67 wins. The Warriors led the league in scoring, field-goal percentage and defensive field-goal percentage, dominating teams at both ends of the floor with a roster full of long, athletic players led by MVP candidate Stephen Curry, but the team is only focused on moving forward. “Sixty-seven wins doesn’t mean crap going into a seven-game series,” center Andrew Bogut told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We get home court and that’s about it. They steal a game early and all of a sudden it swings in their favor.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors took three of the four meetings, including the two at home by an average of 21.5 points.
2. Davis sat out both trips to Golden State but averaged 29.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in the other two meetings.
3. Warriors G Klay Thompson went 23-of-32 from the field in the last two games, including 13-of-17 from 3-point range.