Pelicans not ready to surrender series to Warriors just yet
On the eve of Tuesday night’s Game 5, an event widely expected to send the Warriors dancing into the Western Conference finals and his team trudging home for the summer, New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry offered another possibility.
Gentry, speaking with reporters on a conference call Monday, insisted his Pelicans can beat the Warriors. Yes, the same Warriors who squeezed the life out of New Orleans on Sunday in Game 4, coasting to a 26-point victory.
Yes, the same Warriors who are 23-3 in the playoffs since Kevin Durant hopped aboard. Yes, the same Warriors who are 14-0 at home in the playoffs with Durant.
All the facts might point one way, but Gentry — as any self-respecting NBA head coach would — can see Game 5 tilting in another direction.
“We’re anticipating winning the game,” he said. “That may be naive or crazy to people out there, but that’s how much confidence we have. That’s our approach.
“We’re not looking to win three games. We’re looking to win one game, and then we’ll reassess.”
The Pelicans won one game Friday night, smothering Durant and Stephen Curry and riding center Anthony Davis (33 points, 18 rebounds) to a rollicking Game 3 rout. That outcome filled New Orleans fans with optimism, at least until Game 4’s tip-off Sunday.
Before long, the Warriors reasserted control in these Western Conference semifinals. Durant scored 38 points and Golden State cranked up its defense, limiting the Pelicans to 36 percent shooting from the field. The Warriors rolled 118-92.
“You’re not going to beat that team scoring 92,” Gentry said.
The Warriors made it happen, in part, by starting their “Hamptons 5” lineup for the first time. The quintet of Durant, Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala — named for the New York resort area where Durant was recruited by the other four players during a June 2016 free-agency meeting — quickly seized a 20-8 lead, before Kevon Looney replaced Iguodala.
That lineup also had a big third quarter, stretching a seven-point lead to 18 before Looney again subbed out Iguodala.
“We made them make adjustments, and that’s always good,” Gentry said. “Obviously, with the way the game ended up, we’ll have to make adjustments. That lineup is really good defensively for them; it’s a long lineup and gives them the opportunity to switch everything. We have to do a better job of attacking.”
Gentry, an assistant coach with the Warriors in 2014-15 — when they won the NBA championship — realizes his former team will be supremely motivated Tuesday night. And nobody will be more ready than Green.
He’s averaging a tripledouble in this series (13.8 points, 11.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists), all while doing a commendable defensive job on Davis.
“The bigger the game, the more you’re going to see Draymond’s stats rise — not in scoring as much as rebounding and assists,” Gentry said. “He’s a winner, and he’s been a winner everywhere he’s played. We have to match the things he does.”