OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden State secured the No. 1 overall seed two weeks ago and has been at the top of the NBA standings all season.
New Orleans needed an all-out effort through its last game against San Antonio to claim the Western Conference's final playoff spot.
Expectations for both teams are just as stark.
The Warriors are hoping the Pelicans are a prelude to their championship march. New Orleans has a mentality that it has nothing to lose and everything to gain in the franchise's first postseason appearance since 2011.
The best-of-7 series starts today at amped-up Oracle Arena, and the only differences that matter will be settled on the court in front of a gold-shirt wearing sellout crowd and a national television audience.
"They don't care that we won 67 games," Warriors center Andrew Bogut said. "We don't get an extra pat on the back before the series starts or anything like that. We get home court and that's about it."
The Warriors are counting on their talent, experience and playoff pedigree to power them through what they hope is a run that ends with a championship parade.
They have MVP favorite Stephen Curry and fellow sweet-shooting guard Klay Thompson leading the way. They have the NBA's top-rated defense and its highest-scoring offense. They also have the league's toughest home court, where 19,596 roaring fans have rocked and rattled road teams since well before the Warriors were good.
"This is what we've been waiting for," Curry said. "Everything we've gone through to this point will hopefully prepare us for this journey of winning 16 games."
Golden State might be the deeper, more talented team. But the Pelicans present problems for anybody because of Anthony Davis, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2012 draft who is on the verge of stardom.
The 6-10 power forward, who won a national title at Kentucky and a gold medal with Team USA at the 2012 London Olympics, practically carried the Pelicans into the playoffs. He finished with 31 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks Wednesday night in the clinching victory over the Spurs.
Pelicans Coach Monty Williams expects Davis, 22, to show up the same way he has on every big stage in his career, and Davis doesn't care that just about everybody outside of New Orleans is picking the Pelicans to lose.
"We love matchups like this," Davis said. "We've been in this situation the whole year. We've made it this far. We're not looking to go home just yet."
The Warriors went 3-1 against the Pelicans this season, although Davis sat out two of Golden State's victories.
Davis was the NBA's biggest difference-maker this season, leading the league with a 30.89 player efficiency rating, a complicated formula that calculates a player's per-minute productivity. He averaged 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.
Versatile forward Draymond Green and Bogut will spend most of the time defending Davis. Bogut (96.8) and Green (97.2) finished second and fourth in defensive rating, respectively, and Green is a leading candidate for defensive player of the year along with San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard.
Green gives up size at 6-7, but he's as crafty as it gets and an overall pest in the post. He could play even more minutes with forward David Lee, a two-time All-Star reduced to a reserve role this season, ruled out for Game 1 because of a strained lower back.
He could play even more minutes with forward David Lee, a two-time All-Star reduced to a reserve role this season, ruled out for Game 1 because of a strained lower back.
Sports on 04/18/2015