NBA playoffs: Warriors' Death Lineup sets tone in Game 4 win over Pelicans - The Mercury News

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NEW ORLEANS – The lineup left the Warriors feeling powerful and their opponents feeling fearful. As much as the Warriors' "Death Lineup" scared opponents with their talent, experience and smarts, however, coach Steve Kerr became scared to use it.

That hesitation stopped, and the move played a major factor in the Warriors finishing with a 118-92 Game 4 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday. It might sound weird given their talent and experience, but Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green all started together for the first time since the 2016-17 season. The implications yielded both reminders of their championship dominance and significance surrounding a Game 4 win that cemented a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

"You're on the road and threatened, you put your five best guys out there," Kerr said. "To start like that sets a great tone."

So much that Kerr said he plans to use the same starting lineup when the Warriors play a potential series-clinching Game 5 on Tuesday at Oracle Arena. So much that Green called the tactic "a great adjustment" and expected the switch after openly vouching to start at center after Kerr started JaVale McGee in a Game 3 loss. So much that Curry and Durant both argued how the switch tapped into the team's versatility with their scoring and playmaking.

"It really set the tone for this game," Green said. "We were flying around on the defensive end to start the game and pushing the temp on the offensive end. It really showed up for us."

With four All-Stars (Curry, Thompson, Durant, Green) and a former All-Star (Iguodala) on the floor at the same time, the Warriors had too much talent, too much versatility and too much smarts to account for all at once.

That allowed Durant to score 38 points while shooting 15-of-27 from the field and 2-of-5 from 3-point range, marking his 3rd 30-point game this postseason and 51st overall. Though Curry showed mixed progress with his shooting accuracy in his third game since nursing a left knee injury (8-of-17 shooting), the Death Lineup still created both open looks (23 points) and less pressure to do everything.

"With the versatility of our lineup, everybody is a playmaker. Defensively we're flying around these guys to start the game," Curry said. "We took advantage of it with the momentum on our side. We set the right tone after that bounce back with a terrible Game 3. We'll see how it goes the rest of the series. But it's just a matter of locking in and playing with energy and talking and playing physical. We did all that."

That starting lineup helped Thompson to play more aggressively with 13 points, though he went 1-of-4 in the second half after making four of his first eight shots. That enabled Green to fuel his usual intensity en route to a near triple double (eight, points, nine assists, nine rebounds). That empowered Iguodala to hit the open man, such as when he passed up an open 3-pointer so that Curry could bury one instead.

"He's one of the most fundamentally sound players I've ever seen in my life," Kerr said of Iguodala, whom he compared to former Chicago Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen. "When you combine that fundamental play with his athleticism, it's a pretty good combination."

And it is a combination that Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry anticipated Kerr would eventually employ. Gentry, a Warriors assistant coach in the 2014-15 season, was there when and Kerr's special assistant, Nick U'Ren, suggested to start Iguodala in place of Andrew Bogut in Game 4 of the 2015 NBA Finals after trailing 2-1. Iguodala then won the Finals MVP. Gentry joked on Sunday, "tell Nick he doesn't get credit for sticking Andre in the lineup this time."

So why did the Warriors delay using this lineup combination? Simple. The Warriors had overlapping injuries to all of their players throughout the 2017-18 season. Kerr wanted to preserve his stars' minutes, while also accommodating Curry's in the pat week after sitting out the previous 5 ½ weeks with a left knee injury. And Kerr wanted to save it for when the games counted.

Nonetheless, Gentry anticipated Kerr would eventually deploy it. Two days after unexpectedly starting McGee at center in a Game 3 loss on Friday, Gentry joked that Kerr would start four centers in Game 3. Instead, Kerr made Gentry's prediction eventually come right on Sunday.

"Anytime we've been in any danger over the years, we've gone to this lineup whether it's as a starting group or extra minutes. Obviously the lineup worked or whatever. But it's not about the lineup," Kerr said. "It's really not. It's about how hard guys play and how focused they are. The effort at both ends tonight was night and day from Game 3."

Nonetheless, the Warriors immediately seized on the lineup switch. They stormed out to a 20-8 lead with 5:44 left in the first quarter. The lineup posted a plus-minus rating of +12, a statistic that measures their impact on the floor. And no one outside of Anthony Davis scored.

That script summed up the game. After holding a 61-54 half-time lead, the Warriors opened the third quarter with a 10-2 lead. Though Davis had 26 points, he only shot 8-of-22 from the field while the Pelicans shot 36.4 percent overall. Green (+28), Durant (+23), Thompson (+23), Curry (+21), and Iguodala (+21) dominated the plus-minus rating.

"I didn't think it changed. But you play against that lineup the majority of the game anyway. It's not anything new," Gentry said. "You're going to play against that particular lineup most of the night whenever you play them. It wasn't a surprise."

It might be a surprise, though, that the Warriors did not succeed with the lineup this season. That changed on Sunday when the Warriors had their stars fully healthy in a game that boded more significance than any forgettable ones from October to March.

"We play off each other well. We're going to need it even more for Game 5," Durant said. "In the playoffs you have to switch the lineup to match up with teams. This team plays so small and fast that it works well for us. We can get a small lineup out there as well. We have to do better next game if we want to win."

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