After the New Orleans Pelicans unceremoniously swept the Portland Trail Blazers from the 2018 NBA Playoffs, attention turned almost immediately to a looming matchup with the Golden State Warriors in the second round.
The last postseason meeting between the Pelicans and Warriors was back in the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs when Anthony Davis’ team was swept in his first trip to the playoffs. Based on his postgame comments on TNT today, he hasn’t forgotten the experience.
#Pelicans' Anthony Davis on a potential second round matchup against the #Warriors: "I would love it"
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) April 21, 2018
(via @clippittv) pic.twitter.com/AbmHzXnBx3
Anthony Davis to @NBAonTNT on potentially playing the Warriors in the second round:
— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) April 21, 2018
“I’ll love it. In my first time going to the playoffs, they swept us. So I will love to have that matchup again, especially the way we’re playing.”
Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry took a more light-hearted approach in his more formal post-game press conference making a solid uncle-at-a-cookout joke about Jrue Holiday’s late-game balancing act along the baseline and joking that his primary goal is just to out-coach Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
"I don't care. I just want to out coach Steve Kerr. That's all." - Alvin Gentry when asked about how far the @PelicansNBA can go in the #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/U7TPdVSdyr
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 22, 2018
Of course, we’ll probably hear plenty more about this storyline and more once this series is actually set: Gentry was on the Warriors’ bench as their associate head coach when the two teams met in their 2015 first round playoff series. Even more fun: current Pelicans guard Ian Clark was on that Warriors’ team too.
And if Gentry and Clark aren’t among those on your all-time Warriors list, you’ll probably have a few days to get your mind right before the series actually starts.
Click here for more about this potential series between the Warriors and Pelicans in the 2018 NBA Playoffs.