One down, 15 to go.
After a historic season, the Golden State Warriors locked up the No. 1 seed in the West and entered the postseason poised for a championship run. Yesterday, we got our first look at the Playoff Golden State Warriors and for about three quarters, the rest of the league was collectively pooping its pants watching.
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However, after trailing by as many as 25 at one point, Anthony Davis led his New Orleans Pelicans back into the game with a monster fourth quarter. The Warriors were able to hold on for a 106-99 victory in Game 1, but the usually raucous Oracle Arena got a little tense in the game’s final minutes.
Stephen Curry was the fantastic MVP candidate we’ve all come to expect, Draymond Green nearly had a triple-double and despite going 21-for-34 from the foul line, the Dubs took care of business and got the victory.
But what did we learn about the debut of the postseason Warriors? Is this series going to be a sweep, or did we not give the Pelicans enough credit? Can Green and Andrew Bogut slow the Brow down, or was his 35-point playoff debut just a sign of things to come? And should we be concerned about how hard head coach Steve Kerr had to ride his starters in Game 1?
In order to answer those questions and make some sense of what we saw in this series opener, here’s a look at the five biggest lessons from Game 1 for the Golden State Warriors.
Next: No. 5