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This was a pivotal Game 4 and having received a punch in Game 3, the Golden State Warriors were ready to hit back. They made their initial statement even before the tip-off, by announcing that their death line-up of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green would be starting Game 4.
There wasn't one particular difference-making part of the game, there were multiple.
The defending champions had opened up an 18-point lead in the first quarter but a spirited comeback by the New Orleans Pelicans meant that their halftime lead was only seven. Unfortunately, that's about as competitive as it got. For the duration of the second half it was all Warriors. Let's deep-dive further into the game with the 5 biggest takeaways:
#5 Draymond Green was back and so were the Warriors
So all of the Warriors' Big 4 had below-par games on Friday night. And although not all of them were all guns blazing in Game 4, their key cog Draymond Green was back and it should come as no surprise that so were the Warriors.
Green averages a triple-double for the series, so he pretty much stuck to that with his stat line of 8 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists in Game 4. But as mentioned earlier, it was the other things he does that help the Warriors - stocks (steals + blocks). We discussed this after Game 3, that his stocks' total shows how active he is. After recording none in Game 3, he was back with 6 in Game 4.
His shooting numbers weren't great (3-of-9) but he made enough from long range (2-of-4, 50%) for the Pelicans to start respecting him (their gameplan was to sag off him and let him shoot). In the process, that opened up the passing lanes and led to opportunities for the other better shooters on the team.
#4 Golden State Warriors' death-lineup
The concept of a small-ball death lineup was present in Golden State even before KD arrived. It just became more prominent once he signed on.
Prior to this game, the Warriors' death line-up of Curry, Klay, Durant, Green, and Iguodala had obviously played together through two regular-season campaigns but it was their first time as the starters. In an attempt to match and then beat the Pelicans' pace and small lineups, Golden State's hand was forced but boy do they play well when they are challenged at what they do best.
Most remarkably, the five-man lineup started both halves, which was when the game was won. The Warriors outscored the Pelicans 70-41 if you combine the points tally of the first and third quarters. As mentioned in the tweet below, it was only one game so the sample size was small but here's how the Warriors' death line-up performed in their 18 minutes together:
#3 Mirotic and Pelicans' bench were non-existent again
We all know the Pelicans' stars are Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and Rajon Rondo. Nikola Mirotic, acquired in the mid-season, then is the leader of the supporting cast. That's if there is one. Golden State received 36 points from their roster excluding their Big 4 but the same can't be said about the Pelicans.
Nikola Mirotic, the x-factor from the team's previous series, only put up 7 points. Worse, it came on horrid shooting numbers (1-of-7). The Pelicans' bench only combined for 14 points (Ian Clark - 11; Solomon Hill - 3), all coming at a rather inconsequential time - in garbage time when the game was already sealed away.
Only one player from the supporting cast stepped up - E'Twaun Moore. Unfortunately, he did on a day that nobody else did and on a day when the starters were finding it difficult to dominate their counterparts. He had 20 points but that's about it. Other than that, he had 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 turnover in 37 minutes.
#2 Series all but over
Only 11 times in NBA history has a team overcome a 3-1 series lead and the Pelicans don't seem they are primed to be the one to do it a 12th time.
They challenged the champs at their own game of playing small with pace, and they came out on the wrong end of the results three out of the four games. That happens for a reason. They haven't shown any scheme or strategy that is going to help them win three out of the remaining four against the Warriors.
Meanwhile, Golden State, with prior experience of being in this situation before, would surely look to put up a surgical and clinical performance at home in Game 5 to wrap this up and advance to the Conference Finals.
#1 The Kevin Durant show
He makes it look so easy.
Other than over-doing it and forcing the issue with a couple of jumpers, Kevin Durant was near flawless in this game. In 36 minutes of play, he put up 38 points on 55.6% shooting, 40.0% from beyond the arc while also recording 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. He also had 2 turnovers and shot 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
If he hadn't done it enough already, KD exploited the Jrue Holiday matchup in Game 4, shooting over the 6'4" guard like there was no defender contesting his shot. There is at least some excuse when it comes to Holiday cause of the height difference but then he knocked down some jumpers with an insane degree of difficulty over the long wingspan of Anthony Davis.
Guess the Lakers players!
