Barber: With Spurs out of the way, Pelicans will be a bigger challenge

OAKLAND - The yellow confetti came down after another Warriors playoff advance. The fans voiced a mixture of joy and relief, and the home team exchanged sweaty hugs.

The Warriors were living in the moment, a concept that their coach, Steve Kerr, preaches often. Good for Kerr if such mindfulness can help stop him from breaking clipboards, but let's spend a little time hanging out in the past and the future.

The Warriors' difficult, series-clinching 99-91 win against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday means that their short-term future will revolve around the New Orleans Pelicans, an opponent that is suddenly formidable if not downright scary. More on them in the extremely near future.

First, though, a nod to the past - specifically, to the San Antonio Spurs.

In the 21 full seasons since Gregg Popovich became head coach in San Antonio, the Spurs have never missed the playoffs. Only twice in that run did they fail to win 50 games - in the strike-shortened 1998-99 season (when they were 37-13) and this year, when they finished 47-35. Popovich delivered five NBA titles to San Antonio.

It will be remembered as one of the greatest sustained runs in NBA history. And it well may be coming to an end.

Backup shooting guard Manu Ginobili, 40, might retire any day. Backup point guard Tony Parker, 35, and power forward Pau Gasol, 37, can't be far behind. The Spurs' best player, Kawhi Leonard, has all but uncoupled from the team while nursing a mysterious quadriceps injury, and will probably be dangled as trade bait this offseason. Now Popovich, Kerr's coaching mentor, is absorbing the loss of his wife, Erin, who died last Wednesday. He did not attend the final three games of this series.

It all lends a feeling of finality to the Spurs' amazing run, though they fought to the end on Tuesday; the score was 93-91 with 30 seconds left.

“They put up a hell of a fight tonight,” Kerr said after the game. “They are obviously a championship organization. They've been doing this for a long time. And they're a reflection of their coach. … Pop, if you're watching out there, we love you. Our whole team and coaching staff has been thinking about you every day.”

We shouldn't let the Spurs' excellence fade away without mention. At the same time, we have the future to consider. And you can bet that Kerr and his staff are already gathered around their tarot cards, trying to analyze the Pelicans.

The reading can't be reassuring. The Pelicans are young, quick, aggressive, adept at scoring and hot as a ghost chili. In short, they are everything the methodical Spurs are not. The Warriors received a highly favorable draw in the first round. That is not the case in the second.

The Warriors will be favored to beat New Orleans, and I expect them to. But they'll be working a lot harder than they did in the first five games of the postseason.

If I were the Warriors, what would really concern me about the West semifinal series is their most recent meeting with the Pelicans. It was here at Oracle on April 7, and it was telling. The Warriors lost that contest 126-120, but that, in itself, is no big deal. Golden State lost 10 of its final 17 games, and few of those losses had much meaning. They were evidence of a team that was mildly beaten up and conserving its energy for the postseason.

But the Warriors weren't lackluster or half-hearted in that April 7 game. They played with energy and purpose. And they still came up short.

They lost because the Pelicans, unlike most teams - and certainly not like the Spurs - can keep up with Golden State's scoring. Anthony Davis, their supernaturally gifted big man, has been torching the NBA all season. In New Orleans' four-game sweep of Portland in the first round - remember, the Trail Blazers were the higher seed - Davis averaged 33 points.

And he isn't doing it alone. Jrue Holiday, always an exceptional defender when healthy, is playing off-guard now, thanks to the re-emergence of Rajon Rondo, and Holiday averaged 27.8 points in the Blazers series. Nikola Mirotic, a midseason trade acquisition, is a 6-10 power forward who has stretched the court with his outside shooting ability.

“Obviously, Mirotic has added to their scoring punch and their spacing,” Kerr said. “Rondo and Jrue Holiday have had an amazing playoff run so far, and Davis is Davis. So they got a lot of threats. They spread you out, and they make it very difficult to cover the whole floor. So we'll have our hands full.”

The Pelicans have weaknesses. They aren't particularly deep, and their defense is no great barrier. But if the Warriors lapse into sloppiness (as they did in Game 4 against the Spurs) or lose focus on defense (as they did on numerous occasions in the regular season), New Orleans is a team that can make them pay.

And the Pelicans are playing with house money.

It looked like a tragedy when center DeMarcus Cousins ruptured his Achilles' tendon in late January. He and Davis had finally meshed, and the Pelicans had won seven of eight to bring their record to 27-21. Cousins' injury looked like the end of the parade. But New Orleans rallied under coach Alvin Gentry, who was Kerr's No. 1 assistant when the Warriors won the championship in 2015, and here they are. They stunned Portland in the first round. They believe they can do the same to the Warriors.

“Fortunately, Alvin Gentry doesn't really know what he's doing,” Kerr said. He smiled. He paused.

“It's a joke. It's a joke,” he continued. “Really happy for Alvin. It's fun watching them play. It's not gonna be as much fun playing against them, because they present a lot of problems. But Alvin's done an amazing job with the group. They've come together, they're playing at a really high level, and obviously it's a very different team from the Spurs. They present a lot of different issues.”

And more serious ones. Could the Pelicans really beat the Warriors in a series? Maybe that's an overreach. But remember, there is no guarantee Stephen Curry will be back for Game 1.

The next series will be far more challenging, and more entertaining, than the one that just ended. It's starting to feel like the playoffs now.

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