West Conf. Semis - Game 3: Golden State Warriors 100-119 New Orleans Pelicans - 5 Talking Points
So a majority thought this West. Conference Semifinals series was over after the first two games in Oakland but the New Orleans Pelicans took care of that chatter with a dominant Game 3 performance, winning by 19 points.
They took control of the game in the first quarter of both halves, outscoring the Golden State Warriors 30-21 in the first quarter and 30-19 in the third quarter. The Pelicans were in their element, shooting 50.0% from the field and 45.2% from beyond the arc. Not to mention, assisting on 75% of their field goals (36-of-48).
This would be a huge win for the Pelicans' roster, who believed they should have won Game 2. It's also a huge bounce-back for the franchise from that sweep this team suffered at the hands of the Warriors in the first round of the 2015 postseason.
Anyways, that was three years back. It's time to break down and discuss the 5 biggest takeaways from Game 3:
#5 Ian Clark ensures Pelicans' bench provides a short but efficient spark
So we mentioned the Pelicans' bench in our breakdown of Game 2 and how they weren't really providing their team any lift. Well, that changed in Game 3 at home.
As a whole, they didn't play a lot of minutes but what they did, it was uber-efficient. The bench mob was led by Ian Clark, who put up 18 points in 22 minutes on 7-of-11 shooting including 3-of-5 on 3s. He also had one rebound, one assist and one block to show off on his box score.
Even though this game was a blowout, only Solomon Hill, and Darius Miller played appreciable minutes (14) off the bench. The duo combined for 14 points on 50% shooting from the field and from long range. The starters were playing well, which probably reduced the pressure on the reserves but either way, it's highly unlikely that this performance would carry on to Game 4, let alone for the rest of the series or rest of the Playoffs.