The opening game between the Warriors and the Pelicans looked like it would turn into another Dubs blowout where the raucous crowd wouldn’t get to see many of the starters in the fourth quarter.
Buoyed by presumptive MVP Stephen Curry, the Dubs shot out to a 28-13 first-quarter lead and extended that lead to 18 by the half.
A Shaun Livingston dunk with 2:16 left in the third made it 82-67 Warriors, and that’s when we started thinking about what we were going to do to fill the time before the Bulls and Bucks tip.
But not so fast. The Pelicans finished the third on a 9-2 run, lowering the margin to the 18-point differential they faced at the half. The final session is when Anthony Davis came alive. He scored 20 of his game-high 35 points in the last 12 minutes, going 7-of-10 from the field and almost single-handedly lugging the Pelicans back into the game. Davis’ tear in the fourth included this alley-oop where he looked like his hand might touch the top of Oracle:
For the day, Davis’ 35 points are tied for the fifth most in a playoff debut over the last 40 years. The only other players to score 35 points and grab five rebounds (Davis added seven boards and four blocks to his 35 points) in a playoff debut? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and the Dr. J. That is some impressive company.
Davis’ fourth-quarter heroics only saw the Pelicans get within four points (with nine seconds left) because Stephen Curry dropped 34 of his own. You already know our favorite bucket of Steph’s…
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But Curry also finally starting ripping nylon from beyond the arc in the second half (1/6 in the first, 3/7 in the second), and the Warriors avoided an embarrassing opening game loss on their home floor. Remember, they were 39-2 at Oracle this year, but the power of Brow almost knocked them down. Fortunately for Warriors fans, Curry was just as primed for the playoff pressure.