John B.
Golden State Warriors (-5, 203 o/u) at New Orleans Pelicans
Despite being down two games to none, the young New Orleans Pelicans (45-39, 28-13 home) are still hopeful they can get a win over the visiting Golden State Warriors (69-15, 28-13 away) in Game 3 tonight (9:30 PM Eastern at the Smoothie King Center).
“We know that we can beat this team,” said New Orleans’ star forward Anthony Davis. “We were right there [in Game 2].”
Right there indeed were the Pelicans, who watched a 13-point lead become a 97-87 loss Monday night. In 45 minutes of action, Davis hit 9/22 shots for 26 points to lead his team, but the Kentucky product didn’t score a bucket in the fourth quarter.
“AD is going hard for us out there, and we have to be there to support him when he has an off night,” guard Norris Cole said. “I think the more games he plays in the postseason, and the more games we play as a group in the postseason, the better we’ll be.”
Added forward Quincy Pondexter,” [The Warriors] did what they were supposed to do – they won their home games. We’ve got to go home and do the same thing. It’s not a series until someone wins on the road.”
The Warriors have every reason to be confident heading back to the Smoothie King Center, going 11-3 at home since the All-Star break.
After being pushed to the limit in Game 2, Golden State’s Steph Curry expects an even tougher challenge as the series shifts venues.
“The grind-it-out kind of feel that these games were [in Oakland], you expect it’s gonna be the exact same thing if not tougher in New Orleans,” said Curry. “I’m sure they’ll get some life being at home and feeling their home crowd. We know it’s not gonna be easy regardless of how well we play.”
Up 2-0 in the series, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr isn’t taking anything for granted.
“We’ve got to put four quarters together where we’re just executing and moving the ball and taking care of it,” noted Kerr. “That’s what we’ve done this year for the most part, but we’re still a pretty young team.”
While the Pelicans may not come away with the win, look for New Orleans to cover. The play here is the Pelicans and the points (+5).
(Photo credit: TonyTheTiger (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
