Which team can give the #1 seed more fits? I don't see either one as potential upset, but let's take a look * Pelicans: + play better defense than Thunder, I guess because of their Twin Towers and no Thabo any more, no Durant and no Ibaka is hurting OKC in that department + have a chance to give Warriors fits on both sides of the court because of Anthony Davis. The guy is just too good, too quick and too skilled for Bogut on offense & anybody coming into the paint better watch out. AD played in only 1 of the 3 meeting with GS and had 30, 15 & 3 blocks. + have potential to stick with the Warriors as far as 3pt shooting goes. While the Warriors shoot .397 as a team (holy ****!), Pelicans are 4th with .370. Gordon, Pondexter, Ryan and Norris can all shoot the 3, even Evans at times. They are far superior in that category to the Thunder. - very thin bench, Ryan Anderson is the only guy who could make a difference but given his injuries this year and play vs. Warriors, highly unlikely to be much of an impact player - turnovers and perimeter oriented play: Warriors are tied for 3rd with Rockets for forcing turnovers. Tyreke is turnover prone and Curry has shown he can defend pretty well and they could easily decide to put Klay or Iggy on him during stretches. Gordon is alright, but he's very small for a SG. Size is going to give them fits on the perimeter. - for a team with AD, they are pretty bad defensively and actually 7th overall on offense Thunder: ++/ - Westbrook. That guy could single-handedly win or lose them games. Like AD, he could be a difference maker and Curry has not had his best games against OKC: 15, 19 twice and 34. Westbrook can contain Curry. + Kanter & Adams + that Mitch big white dude can hold their own against the Warriors front court and could even have the advantage. Even over AD & Asik, because Asik has not been that great and these guys are coming on strong. And potentially Ibaka back. +/- a thin bench but can give more than the Pelicans' bench. Morrow can get hot and Augustin has played very well. - nobody outside of Westbrook to put pressure on their wings - bad defensive team in general, for all that is great about Kanter on offense, he's pretty bad on defense. I give the Pelicans a slight edge, because of their play lately, 3pt shooting and AD who is more of a positive than Westbrook. Thoughts?
A couple of points. The Pelicans are bottom 5 in the league at defending the paint. The Warriors are always going to get points from behind the arc but if they are also scoring in the lane then they will be very difficult to beat. I doubt that Bogut will play Davis. Green will likely get the assignment with Bogut leaving Asik to help out. This is where Asik'd lack of offense really hurts.
Even if ibaka doesn't come back the answer is okc. They have a good amount of playoff experience and their home crowd is a factor. Plus, I have yet to see AD take over a game like any of the other MVP candidates can.
Both games Anthony Davis played, the Pelicans have won. With the win and how OKC is sliding, I'd love a Pelicans vs. Warriors match-up!!
With durant out, maybe. At full strength, no way! Not when they have Westbrook, durant, ibaka, and a nice front court.
It would be the best of pelicans can get the 8th. They will win at least 2 i say, come back and rep me later....
I think the Pelicans have a chance because their mentality going into this series will be "No one expects us to win but F them." They have that 8th seed magic going for them in that they have a superstar wanting to make his mark on a big stage. Like this is what they have been fighting for all season, just to get to the playoffs. The Thunder...they are done and they know it. They know they have no shot at this. They have been fighting for a championship and to be the 8th seed with no shot at it because of no Durant...I'm just looking at how they have been playing and it looks like they just don't have the will. If they sneak in it'll be on Westbrook alone and they are not going to beat GSW on Westbrook alone. Right now the Pelicans are a more complete team. They have guys like Gordon and Evans who are capable of having random great performances. They have Asik whose capable of negating their big man...and they have Anthony Davis whose capable of doing anything he wants on a basketball court. When I look for upsets I always ask "Can they get hot from 3?" the answer for the Pelicans is yes...yes they can. In fact they are 4th in 3P% and when it comes to basketball and upsets, that 3 pointer truly is the great equalizer. All that said though the Warriors will probably win either series in 5 games at most as they are a better team from 3 and it's hard to imagine a team outshooting them.
I prefer the pelicans They will make Bogut work harder - which i think is key to beating Golden State Rocket River
After the trash talking the Warriors did before the game yesterday, id love to see Pelicans play them 1st round instead of OKC.
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It's a sweep with either team, but since OKC is incapable of playing any sort of defense, they will be blown out easily all 4 games. Warrior should hit 100 points after 3 quarters without problem.
Big news: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>For Friday's game at OKC, Kings injury report: Cousins (Sore Foot) -OUT; Gay (Concussion) & Stauskas (Back Strain) -QUESTIONABLE. Sorry Pels</p>— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/status/586330523095531520">April 10, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
