By Sahar Kharie, Courier Staff Writer
The Warriors are now matched up with the New Orleans Pelicans in the second round of the playoffs.
The Pelicans dominated the Trail Blazers in the first round, and their star center, Anthony Davis, is a tough match up for 
any team. The Warriors have been without their star guard, Steph Curry, for weeks now, and they haven’t dominated teams like they used to over the last three years.
The opening game was on Saturday at the Oracle Arena, and it started out as a close contest with the Warriors up by one after the first quarter, 35-34. But then the Warriors got hot and outscored the Pelicans 41-21. The Warriors had gone with a smaller line-up playing a lot of their guards. The fast pace caught up to the Pelicans, and they couldn’t overcome the 76-55 halftime deficit.
Even without Curry, the Warriors have All-stars Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Green dominated, everywhere, finishing with a triple double of 16 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 assists, plus 3 steals and 2 blocks. Durant added another 26 points with 13 rebounds, and Thompson dropped in 27 points to lead all scorers.
The Warriors won the game going away, 123-101, and they may have Curry back and available for Game 2 this Tuesday. Hopefully the team will get back to their dominant ways for the rest of the play-offs and win their third title in the last four years.
“The Warriors are doing good without Stephen Curry because there are more than one all star like Green, Klay, Durant… aren’t bad too, but if he comes back soon that will help the risks of not losing,” said Mariah Yee, a senior.
“I’m okay with Stephen Curry being hurt because that means at a point they can lose a game in the playoffs,” said Kunal Prasad, a senior.