LAS VEGAS – If it’s possible for a summer league matchup to be dripping with storylines, Saturday’s New Orleans-Golden State quarterfinal game (9 p.m. Central, NBA TV) certainly fits the bill. A few weeks after Alvin Gentry changed addresses from the Bay Area to the Gulf Coast, his current team will face his former club. Additionally, Gentry’s associate head coach, Darren Erman, is a former Warriors assistant. Erman even led the 2013 summer Warriors to the inaugural Las Vegas tourney championship and is 10-0 career as a summer head coach (including 3-0 this year).
Before and after New Orleans’ 97-81 victory over Washington on Thursday, Erman and Seth Curry were both warmly greeted by current members of the Golden State organization. Curry, who was in Warriors training camp in 2013 but was released days before Opening Night, is an ex-teammate of current Golden State summer leading rebounder Ognjen Kuzmic. Curry was asked Thursday about facing the Warriors in the next round.
“It’s a lot different now, a lot different players,” Curry compared to his Warriors stint two years ago. “The system is a little bit different, but it’s always good to play against some people I am familiar with.”
The summer Warriors also have not played a comparable style to their big-league brethren, averaging 76.6 points in Las Vegas, a relatively high number for this league, but far less than the summer Pelicans, who have registered at least 89 points in every game. In its four victories, New Orleans is averaging a whopping 94.3 points. According to NBA.com, the Pelicans are shooting 48.4 percent from the field, an extremely high rate for a team that – like every summer squad – was put together this month.
“When you get a group of guys who’ve never played together, to be able to play well and execute like that, it’s a testament to how hard they’ve worked and how they’re willing to play for each other,” Pelicans assistant Robert Pack said. “The whole team collectively is playing the right way, sharing the ball, executing on both ends of the floor.”
“We’re sharing the ball and guys are making simple plays,” Seth Curry said of NOLA’s stellar performance in Las Vegas. “In this system there is a lot of space, and you’re able to show what you’ve got.”