West Conf. Semis - Game 4: Golden State Warriors 118-92 New Orleans Pelicans - 5 Talking Points

#4 Golden State Warriors' death-lineup

Warriors' death line-up in the last year's regular season

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:

One-game efficiency sample sizes are dumb, but whatever.Warriors' starters in 18 minutes together todayOffensive rating: 130.1Defensive rating: 66.5Net rating: +63.6Plus/minus: +26

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 6, 2018