The defending NBA Champion Warriors will have a target on their back all season, making a repeat that more difficult, but also much more satisfying if they can get there. Golden State opens defense of its title against former assistant coach Alvin Gentry, who was hired from Steve Kerr’s staff to lead the Pelicans after the team made its first postseason appearance in four years. New Orleans was ousted in a four-game sweep by the eventual champions.
LOOK AHEAD
An odd quirk in the NBA schedule has these teams playing each other twice in the first five days of the new season, knocking off two-thirds of their season series in the first week. New Orleans opens with a back-to-back, travelling to Portland for a game on Wednesday, and returns for its home opener Saturday against the Warriors. Saturday’s game will be the second of a back-to-back for the Warriors after they play in Houston on Friday night.
Golden State will go through its championship ring ceremony before Tuesday’s game. While such celebratory moments are great for the fans, the guys playing the game usually have a letdown following the opening tip. The Pelicans couldn’t beat the Warriors last season so they took from them, hiring Gentry as their head coach. New Orleans was 1-7 SU, including the opening-round sweep in the playoffs, but hung close in most games with a 5-3 ATS record. While the Pelicans aren’t at elite status in the West, they should be better this season.
INJURIES
Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr won’t be on the bench when the team opens defense of its title. Kerr, who led Golden State to its first NBA Championship in 40 years, continues to battle symptoms, including severe headaches, caused by a spinal fluid leak resulting from back surgery in July. Luke Walton will serve as interim head coach and be at the helm for Tuesday’s opener. Walton has been coaching the team throughout the preseason and general manager Bob Myers said there is no timetable for Kerr’s return.
New Orleans suffered a slew of injuries during training camp and will be without point guard Tyreke Evans, shelved for six to eight weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery. Backup center Alexis Ajinca is out with a hamstring injury and starting center Omer Asik is questionable due to a calf strain.
KEY MATCHUP
When you think of the Warriors, you think three-pointers. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are back to light it up again for the Dubs, coming off a season in which they brought home a championship, won 67 regular season games and started in the All-Star Game. Throw in an MVP for Curry and a 37-point quarter for Thompson, and it’s going to be quite difficult to top those accomplishments. However the Splash Brothers have gotten better every year of their reign in the Warriors backcourt, and neither player has yet reached his 28th birthday. The two combined for 525 threes last season, the most ever by a pair of teammates, and they now own three of the top five such seasons in NBA history.
ODDS AND PREDICTION
A pregame ring ceremony may put the Warriors into a lull at the outset, but this team routinely turned it on in the second half of games last season. So after the pageantry of that opening ritual is behind them, expect the Warriors to again turn up the heat as the game wears on. New Orleans will use Anthony Davis and the stud will deliver, but with injuries to some key players affecting the team at the outset, don’t expect the Pelicans to win this one. Davis will do his part, like he did in the playoffs, but it simply won’t be enough with Golden State’s depth. It would be difficult enough for New Orleans to win with a full roster, but without Evans, Ajinca, Asik and Norris Cole, getting a win in Oracle is too much to ask.
Golden State 113, New Orleans 101
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