The curtains pull back, and a spotlight falls brightly on a little kid. It’s his first school play, but he gets stage fright and runs off stage.
If you’ve ever watched a TV series, you’ve probably seen this or some variety of it. It’s a classic episode television producers will use for the rest of time because people will always be scared of their first time on the big stage.
But what if that little kid is actually a man in his 20s who makes millions of dollars to play basketball? Does he still get jitters?
I don’t know and probably never will because no one will ever show me a check with that many commas on it. But the Pelicans sure looked the part last Saturday against the Warriors.
Golden State had been to the playoffs before. In the team’s first postseason experience with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson two seasons ago, the Warriors ousted the Nuggets in six games before falling to the Spurs in six. This year marks their third consecutive trip to the postseason, and in the NBA, experience is one of the three biggest keys to success.
Talent and continuity fall right next to experience as tipping points that separate contenders from pretenders. Look at this year’s major contenders.
The Spurs have had the same core players since I learned how to walk. The Warriors are as talented of a team as the NBA has seen since Dwayne Wade and LeBron James were both healthy and playing together. The Cavaliers are this year’s Heat except they have a misused Kevin Love instead of Chris Bosh. Beyond that, the Clippers are the only other team I think has a combination of a big three strong enough to bring home the championship.
Go ahead and send me hate mail when another team wins the championship, but I just don’t see that happening. And yes, that includes the Pelicans.
I’m sure it isn’t breaking news the Pelicans won’t win the championship this season. But that’s not what this year was about.
Since drafting Anthony Davis, New Orleans has tried to put talented players around him like Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, Omer Asik and Ryan Anderson — and some untalented ones like Greg Stiemsma and Austin Rivers. But every time, something has gone, and it’s mostly been injuries.
The Pelicans have labored through the last few seasons, and fans like myself didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. They looked like a bunch of players cast aside to New Orleans, a throwaway market by NBA standards.
But the Pelicans earned a playoff spot and made many of the naysayers, like me, look foolish.
The light at the end of the tunnel is there, but they just won’t get to it this season. The Pelicans are still the kids who haven’t experienced enough to conquer their stage fright. They showed growth as quickly as Game 2 when they fought to the final minutes with the Golden State juggernaut in Oracle Arena. It was almost an improbable upset, but they just weren’t good enough.
Over the first two games, you could see small errors that showed they just weren’t ready — the lack of box outs on Warriors’ 3-point attempts and offense in the final minutes. At times, both coach Monty Williams and the players didn’t know what to do because they don’t know the answer yet. Hopefully, they learned from those mistakes.
Tonight, the Pelicans will try to pick up a win, and they just might do it on their home court. Hell, they might even be able to take both if they can improve the way they did in the first two games, but don’t expect them too.
Instead, look to the next two seasons.
The Pelicans will have the talent with Davis, Evans, Anderson, Asik and Holiday back as a starter and maybe even Eric Gordon if he accepts his option. They’ll be experienced thanks to this year’s playoff series regardless of outcome. Plus, the continuity of the core and role players could bring them to a level not seen in New Orleans since the 2007-2008 Hornets.
Enjoy tonight and Saturday’s games and however many more the Pelicans might force, but watch the Warriors because in two seasons, that could be New Orleans.
Brian Pellerin is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Kenner, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @Pellerin_TDR.