New Orleans Pelicans: Do They Have A Chance?

We did it. You and me, Brow. We propelled the New Orleans Pelicans into the postseason. You had a much bigger role than I did of course, but let’s pretend my writing had just as much of an effect.

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Who in their right mind thought that the Pelicans were going to beat a hellacious Spurs team on Wednesday night to clinch a playoff berth? Don’t you nod your head aimlessly at me. Being pinned against the Golden State Warriors juggernaut is no walk in the park, but the experience this young team is going to get is undeniably a tremendous plus.

Stephen Curry may very well be this year’s league MVP. He is is one of few of his breed (the frail point guard without elite athleticism) to take a stranglehold of the league for an entire season.

His random flurries of dribble moves that coalesce into rainbow arching three-point daggers not only bring the house down at every NBA arena, but also leave Steve Kerr giggling like a schoolgirl with a crush.

This is what you have to contend with when you are going against the Warriors, amongst other things. It isn’t even fair that they run a motion offense that would make Gregg Popovich and the Spurs blush.

Case in point, exhibit one:

I don’t blame you if you choose to watch that video 10 times on a loop. I know I sure did. No shame.

First of all, the flow of the offense during this sequence really is Spurs-like. Klay Thompson knew exactly what to do with the ball once he saw that Curry’s man was preventing him from receiving the pass. Andrew Bogut flashed towards Thompson to act as the safety valve and allow the motion to continue.

Curry then shifts from the right corner over towards Bogut to receive — my personal favorite — the handoff/pass. All this was made possible thanks to a well-executed screen by Thompson.

As Curry receives the ball, Bogut is already rumbling his way towards the rim, leaving poor Derrick Favors as the monkey in Curry and Bogut’s game of monkey in the middle. Gordon Hayward (Thompson’s man) has no opportunity to help on the Bogut roll because that would leave Thompson wide open for the three.

The whole play is simply a beautiful thing and it is only fitting that Curry makes one of his patented left-handed dime passes to Bogut for the flush.

Along with creating basketball poetry, Golden State often looks to attack the defense early in the shot clock with an array of three-point jumpers and quick cuts. Curry and Thompson especially are not shy about hoisting up any open look from beyond the arc they get.

New Orleans will have to be ready for this and be sure to stick close to Curry and Thompson in transition situations.

The Warriors are extremely lethal because of their versatility and ability to create high percentage shots regardless if they elect to play with bigger or smaller lineups.

Be sure to take notice of the way Shaun Livingston makes Marreese Speights open by looking Andre Drummond off his man in this next play:

Again, the synchronization of the offense that leaves the opposing defense in precarious situations. Andre Drummond is the unlucky defender is this sequence, as he is left to defend both the Harrison Barnes roll and Speights, who is patrolling the short corner on the left side.

Livingston looks off Drummond as if he is Peyton Manning looking off a deep safety and creates the easy lay-in for Speights.

Kudos to both the play designer (Kerr, I assume) and the execution of the Warriors for bringing out the basketball nerd in me.

Any New Orleans big man that happens to find themselves in a similar situation as Drummond may be best served to take their chances with a Livingston drive. Anthony Davis, Omer Asik, and Alexis Ajinca all have the shot blocking capabilities to alter any dribble drive towards the basket.

Allowing Livingston to become a distributor in that situation is exactly what both he and the Warriors want. It is also important to be aware of Livingston within the post area as well. His 6’7″ frame and long arms make any match up against opposing back up point guards almost seem laughable.

Can you imagine Norris Cole and his mighty-mite self (I love you, Norris) trying to contend with Livingston? I witnessed Livingston almost steal a rebound from Davis last time these two teams played. That never happens!

As for the offensive side of things, the Pelicans have to leverage the Warriors versatility by creating as much floor spacing as possible. It is more difficult to accomplish this feat while Omer Asik shares the floor with Davis, which is why I would expect to see plenty of Ryan Anderson as the series goes on.

With Anderson on the floor, a Evans and Davis pick and roll upscales from “semi-dangerous” to “holy hell what should we defend??” During their most recent matchup, Evans would attack Draymond Green using this very action and had success doing it.

Often times Draymond would elect to help on Davis in order to prevent an easy roll/alley oop chance at the rim and thus leave a slipping Anderson wide open behind the arc. That strategy worked with some success for the first few instances, but then Anderson finally got some threes to fall, forcing Draymond to stray more his way in the future.

With more attention moving towards Anderson, Davis was left with a straight shot towards the rim and caught some vicious lob passes from either Evans or Jrue Holiday in the process.

As great a defensive team as the Warriors are, it is difficult to come up with an answer to stop this action, other than perhaps hedging hard on the pick and roll ball handler to sniff out the play before it even gains momentum.

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If that were to occur, New Orleans has to make sure that their ball movement is crisp and they could find an open corner three (otherwise known as the Quincy Pondexter zone) as a result.

This is going to be such a fascinating series. Everyone and their grandmother has such a hard-on for the Warriors that I think America assumes that they are going to sweep away the Pelicans without much of a fight. However, the Pelicans are outscoring opponents by a strong eleven points per 100 possessions while their starting five is on the floor together, per nba.com.

That is a number that compares to some of the top lineups in the league and as we all know, once the playoffs roll around, rotations dwindle and the starters get more time to shine.

Verdict: Golden State may ultimately win the series because they are truly that good, but I am predicting that it will be done in six games as opposed to a clean sweep. The Warriors tried to win the game that these two teams played a little over a week ago, yet they lost. That means something to me. The Pelicans are going to be far from a cakewalk.

Enjoy the series everyone.

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