Golden State Warriors roar out to early lead, hold on for 106-99 playoff win against Pelicans

OAKLAND - Even in the age of sports analytics, some simple math prevails. For example: Two fantastic quarters outweigh one terrible one.

The Warriors breathed a collective sigh of relief after holding off the determined New Orleans Pelicans 106-99 at Oracle Arena on Saturday, winning the opening game of this NBA Western Conference playoff series after demonstrating both their lofty potential and their vulnerabilities.

“The playoffs, you’ve just got to get it done somehow,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “We’re up 1-0. That’s where we want to be.”

In the first half, the Warriors did everything that made them the NBA’s most successful, and most exciting, team in 2014-15. They fired pinpoint passes, played in-your-face defense, followed up misses with jams and splashed 3-point shots in quick succession against the overmatched Pelicans.

The Oracle crowd lapped up every minute of it, turning Game 1 into a postseason launch party. Golden State pushed its lead to 25 points late in the third quarter - then went on cruise control.

If not ultimately fatal, it was a little scary for the home fans. And it started at the end of the third, New Orleans finishing on a quiet 7-0 run.

“I thought that was a key stretch of the game in terms of it ending up being tight,” Kerr said. “The last minute of the third quarter we’re up … 25, turned it over twice, gave up two quick threes, and the turnovers were lazy. Just not difficult plays.”

New Orleans started the fourth quarter with another 7-0 run and, after the Warriors seemed to steady themselves, made another big push down the stretch. The Pelicans, most of them postseason newbies, cut the Warriors’ lead to six points with 34 seconds left on Anthony Davis’ turnaround jumper, to five points with 20 seconds left on Eric Gordon’s pull-up 22-footer, and to four points with 9.7 seconds left as Davis made a pair of free throws.

And New Orleans did it without one of its best players, guard Tyreke Evans, who injured his knee in the second quarter and did not return.

The Warriors suddenly were finding it hard to guard Davis, and almost as hard to hit free throws, missing six shots from the stripe in the final 2½ minutes. Even the machinelike Stephen Curry was imperfect, missing three free throws in a game for the first time this season.

But when Curry missed his second of two free throws with 6.2 seconds remaining, teammate Harrison Barnes tracked down the rebound, and the Warriors got their win. And perhaps a valuable lesson as well.

“Obviously, the first three (quarters) were a lot better than the fourth,” Kerr said. “But it was good for us, good to feel that. It’s good for us to have to deal with the feeling in the building, especially as a favorite, when a team starts to come back. … That’s all part of it.”

Now the Warriors must figure out a way to stop Davis, the lanky, hyperkinetic power forward. Actually, it looked like they had him solved for most of Saturday’s game. After three quarters Davis had 15 points, four fouls and just one rebound. Draymond Green, in particular, had done a great job defending him.

But Davis went wild in the fourth quarter, tacking on another 20 points on a variety of vicious dunks and short-range jumpers.

“Obviously, AD changed the game in the fourth quarter with the way he played, and we’re going to have to deal with that all series,” Curry said. “That’s why it’s going to be tough. To win four games, we’re going to have to focus and lock in.”

For most of the game, the Warriors did almost nothing wrong. They led 28-13 after 12 minutes, the fewest points the franchise had ever allowed in the first quarter of a postseason game. And it was the other superstar, Curry, who was patching together a highlight reel.

Less than four minutes into the game, Curry hit one of those long 3-pointers from halfway to Levi’s Stadium, and was running toward the opposite basket by the time it hit net. Late in the second quarter, he changed hands in the lane, avoided Cal product Ryan Anderson, hit the layup and got fouled. In the third quarter he drilled back-to-back 3-pointers, both fairly well guarded, to push the Warriors’ lead to 78-56.

The classic Curry moment came just before halftime, when he sped to the hoop with Davis, a shot-blocking menace, hot in pursuit. Curry reversed to his left hand and spun the ball improbably high off the backboard to avoid Davis’ hand, drew the foul and hit the subsequent free throw.

“I couldn’t believe the ball went in,” Kerr said. “It didn’t look from my angle like it was going to go in. I thought Steph was trying to put it off the glass, and the ball just seemed to drop out of the sky right through the hoop.”

Curry was serenaded with even more throaty versions of the “M-V-P! M-V-P!” chant that has become the theme song of Oracle Arena.

Curry finished with 34 points of 13-of-25 shooting. Klay Thompson scored 21 for the Warriors, center Andrew Bogut grabbed 14 rebounds to go along with his 10 points, and Green added 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Bogut in particular was a game changer, blocking shots (one of them out near the 3-point line), cleaning out rebounds and finishing a couple lobs with emphatic slams.

The Warriors will need more of that from Bogut as this series advance - assuming the Pelicans keep pushing Golden State as they did in Game 1. And New Orleans coach Monty Williams sounded confident his team will continue to do that.

“I thought we settled down, which is a win for us, but we’re not satisfied with just settling down,” Williams said. “We gave up so many easy baskets that it got their crowd into it. They got a lot of juice. But we did figure out some things tonight.”

Kerr hopes the Warriors did, too.