The Warriors were historically great in the regular season. That's not a secret. What failed to get the attention it deserved is how much better they were at home than on the road. They lost just two games in Oakland in the regular season, once against a depleted Spurs team, and once in overtime against the Bulls on a night where Derrick Rose went for 30 points. On the road, they won by an average of slightly more than five points while they blew teams out by 14 points at Oracle Arena. They will drop some games on the road, but it's almost impossible to beat these Warriors at home, as the Pelicans are finding out.
Anthony Davis went for 26 points and 10 rebounds while Eric Gordon poured in 23 of his own. It didn't matter, as Golden State made runs in key moments and had Draymond Green to slow down The Brow late in the game. After battling for 48 minutes and playing one of their best games of the season, the Pelicans still lost by 10, 97-87. It has to be incredibly frustrating to perform well enough to beat almost any team and come away from it with only an 0-2 deficit.
The Pelicans have to hope the trend from the regular season will continue and a much more vulnerable Warriors team shows up in New Orleans. If that happens, New Orleans can stretch the series and have another crack at being the third road team all season to walk away from Oracle with a win. That would make the possibly illegal noise level much easier to handle for Monty Williams and his players.
For the Warriors it has to be reassuring to know that teams will always dread playing them in Oakland. The crowd is insane and you can see the players feed off of it. There are better reasons why Golden State is favored to win it all, including having Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and the best defense in the league on their side. Home court advantage is a minor strength compared to that, or at least it should be. Until someone beats the Warriors at home, however, it's going to loom as a key factor for their title chances.
3 things we learned
The Bucks' lack of shooting might doom them
Milwaukee got to the postseason by using its athletes to lock teams down defensively and cause turnovers for easy buckets. The smothering defensive pressure is still there in the playoffs -- as the collective length takes away space -- while the Bucks' rotations are crisp. It just doesn't look like it will be enough to pull off an upset on the Bulls without the three-point shooting to take advantage of the stops the Bucks get.
The Bulls shot 38 percent from the floor but got 12 three-pointers to the Milwaukee's' four. The Bucks are usually at a disadvantage on offense because they lack a dominant player who can score on his own and get to the line. If their shooters don't step up, the series could be short. It will be hard for them to keep up with even a mediocre offensive team like Chicago.
Derrick Rose is finding ways to contribute without scoring
Rose's shot abandoned him in Game 2. So instead of forcing the issue, he acted as a distributor and kept the Bulls' offense running as best he could against a great Bucks defense. He went scoreless in the first half but dished out six assists. In the second half he hit a three and started to drive to the basket to get easy points inside or from the line.
He played through adversity and turned around a game that was not looking good for him early. Through it all, he finished close to a triple-double, with 15 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. More importantly, he showed maturity and found a way to make a positive impact when things weren't going his way.
Draymond Green is a difference-maker
Curry is the frontrunner for MVP and Thompson made the leap from promising talent to star. Yet the biggest difference between last year's Warriors and this version is the play of Draymond Green. He finished the game on Monday with 14 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals, all while playing excellent defense on Davis. He can lead the break or anchor the paint and while he's a streaky shooter, his presence takes the Warriors' offense from "great" to "impossible to guard."
His evolution from bit player to budding star has been one of the most entertaining stories of the season. If he can make another leap next year after he surely gets a max contract, the Warriors would have the pieces to contend for the next decade.
Play of the night
Jimmy Butler scored 32 points for the Bulls in their win over the Bucks and put an exclamation point on a fantastic performance by dunking all over Zaza Pachulia.
5 fun things
The Pelicans should just force Curry to shoot from outside the court. He can't hit that shot.
Zaza Pachulia got two technical fouls called on him in just one minute. Impressive.
Warrior fans got even louder after Monty Williams complained about the noise.
Draymond Green's mom is as passionate when she live-tweets games as his son is when he plays.
Dante Cunningham stopped a 2-4 Warriors fastbreak, somehow.
Final scores
Bulls 91, Bucks 82 (Blog a Bull recap | Brew Hoop recap | SB Nation recap)
Warriors 97, Pelicans 87 (Golden State of Mind recap | The Bird Writes recap | SB Nation recap)
