Barber: Hamptons 5 leads Warriors to 118-92 win vs. Pelicans

NEW ORLEANS - Steve Kerr went to the nuclear option against the Pelicans. He went to the Hamptons 5. And it was fearsome to behold in a 118-92 win.

You probably know about the Hamptons 5. Bay Area columnist Tim Kawakami, now with The Athletic, hatched the nickname in 2016, after the Warriors had signed superstar Kevin Durant. It refers to the five-man lineup made up of Durant and the four Warriors who had traveled to a retreat on Long Island, New York - in the Hamptons - to recruit him as a free agent: Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala.

“I just feel strange as a coach saying, ‘Well, the Hamptons Five played really well tonight,'?” Kerr said in response to a question after the game, shaking his head and grinning. “I can't say that. You can.”

Yet the coach was free to acknowledge the truth about this quintet. “Obviously, it is our best five players,” he said.

Kerr talked a little about Curry's progression back from a knee injury, then added: “You're on the road, you're threatened, you put your best five guys out there.”

And there's no question that this is Golden State's best five. Four of them are All-Stars, and Iguodala is one of the top reserves in the game.

Here's the crazy part: Curry, Durant, Green, Thompson and Iguodala had never started a game together before. Not in the regular season, not in the postseason. They are an iconic combo, yet this was their NBA debut.

To which Warriors Social Media will collectively shout: What took you so long? Why did you subject us to so many starts by plodding Zaza Pachulia in the fall and early winter, and by inconsistent JaVale McGee in February, by defense-averse Nick Young in Games 1 and 2 of this Western Conference semifinal series, and by McGee again in Game 3, when we could have had the Hamptons all along?

Kerr has his reasons. Primary among them is that he loves to bring Iguodala off the bench. In fact, Kerr is convinced (and he isn't the only one) that the willingness of Iguodala, a former All-Star, to accept a supporting role with the Warriors is one of the biggest factors in the team's four-year run of excellence. Iguodala provides stability, versatility and athleticism off the bench, anchoring Golden State's second unit. Kerr has been hesitant to shake that up.

But his hand may be forced now. The Hamptons were so superior to other starting lineups in this series that it will be hard for Kerr to reverse course without inviting torches and pitchforks in Oakland.

The Warriors had a 2-1 lead before Sunday, but they had been anything but dominant at the start of halves, when it's mostly starters vs. starters on the court. The Pelicans actually outscored the higher seed by 10 points in the first quarter of Games 1-3, and by four points in the third quarter of those games.

You can't entirely blame Young and McGee for those numbers, but they weren't great. In Game 1, Young had a plus-minus of negative-7 while starting in place of Curry; the four other Warriors starters ranged from plus-11 to plus-28. In Game 2, Young was at minus-11. Curry finally returned to the starting lineup in Game 3, but Kerr went with McGee at center and moved Green down to power forward. McGee wasn't nearly as effective guarding New Orleans' Anthony Davis, and the Warriors lost by 19 points here.

So Kerr called the Hamptons Hotline.

“Anytime we've been in any danger over the years, we've sort of gone to this lineup, whether it's as (the) starting group or extra minutes,” he explained afterward.

To be clear, both Kerr and Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry downplayed the importance of the starting lineup. As Gentry said, “You play against that lineup the majority of the game anyway. I mean, at the end of the day, if you look at the numbers over the course of the whole season, it's gonna be Klay, Steph, Andre, Draymond and - whoever the hell I'm leaving out. Oh yeah, that guy KD.”

Gentry has a point. The Hamptons were among the Warriors' most commonly used combinations in 2017-18. And in contrast to 2016-17, they weren't particularly effective together. In 2016-17, they had a cumulative net rating - which measures point differential per 100 possessions - of +23.9. In 2017-18, that fell to 8.4.

Yet knew all along that Cur- KlayDurDrayDala would be the winning hand when the most poker chips were on the table. Kerr knew it, too, which is why he liked to close games with those five.

But as we saw in Game 4, opening a game with your best players pays its dividends, too. The Warriors were up 20-6 before the Pelicans even knew what hit them in the first quarter. And after New Orleans put together a strong second quarter to cut their deficit 61-54 at halftime, the Hamptons did it again. They began the third period with a 10-2 run to go up by 15 points, and the margin never dipped below double digits after that.

All told, the Hamptons outscored the opposition 41-18 in those two crucial quarters. They were unstoppable.

“I mean, just the experience,” Durant explained. “Guys have been there before. Just an IQ for the game. … It's good for scorers like Klay, Steph and myself. You know Andre and Draymond do all the utility stuff like driving to the rim, getting stops, getting rebounds, and you know they were knocking down shots when they got the opportunity to shoot 'em. I think we played off of each other well.”

Of course, when you're talking about the Hamptons 5 as a starting unit, you're really talking about the insertion of Iguodala into the lineup. Those other four are All-Stars. They're gonna get their pregame introductions. So you could say it was Iguodala's presence that sparked the roaring start.

That's probably what Kerr was thinking, anyway. Anyone who has spent any time around the Warriors over the past four years knows that the coach holds special admiration and affection for Iguodala. When I asked Kerr about the veteran swingman after the game, he launched into a long, almost poetic tribute.

“What Andre does for us is so dramatic - in every aspect,” Kerr said. “He takes care of the ball; he had six assists and no turnovers. He guards one of the most dangerous people on the floor, night after night. He settles us down. A lot of the spectacular plays that you'll see us make during the season will come when Andre's flying down the floor, and he just makes like a John Wooden jump-stop, waits till everything happens, and then he swings the ball. And somebody else throws this wild lob. But the only reason it works is because Andre sees the floor and sets it all up.

“He's one of the most fundamentally sound players I've ever seen in my life. And when you combine that fundamental play with athleticism? That's a pretty good combination.”

Kerr compared Iguodala to his former teammate, Scottie Pippen, who helped the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles.

When you've got a Scottie Pippen on your roster, it's hard not to start him. Kerr admitted as much after this game. He has made it a policy throughout these playoffs not to announce his starting lineup until required, which is within a half-hour of tip-off. Kerr made a consolation and stated the obvious on Sunday, though. The Hamptons 5 will start again in Game 5, Tuesday at Oracle Arena.

And it was nice knowing you, Pelicans.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.