NBA: Warriors hold off Pelicans to launch playoff race

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, in white, goes up for a shot next to New Orleans Pelicans’ Tyreke Evans, bottom left, Quincy Pondexter, top left, and Anthony Davis, top right, during the second half in Game 1 of the NBA basketball playoffs Saturday, April 18, 2015, in Oakland, Calif. Golden State won 106-99. AP

OAKLAND, United States – The Golden State Warriors powered to a big lead Saturday, but had to battle late to hold off the New Orleans Pelicans 106-99 in the first game of the NBA Western Conference playoffs.

Stephen Curry scored 34 points and the Warriors looked like living up to their status as the top team in the regular-season with a blowout.

But the battle-hardened Pelicans, who didn’t lock up the last playoff berth in the West until the final night of the regular season, just wouldn’t go away.

New Orleans put together a 14-0 scoring run bridging the third and fourth quarters, trimming a 25-point deficit to 11.

Curry and Klay Thompson responded for Golden State, draining back-to-back three-pointers to launch a 7-0 run for the hosts.

The Pelicans fashioned a 7-0 run of their own to pull within 93-83 with less than four minutes to play.

New Orleans trimmed the deficit to four in the final minute, but couldn’t get any closer.

The West’s second-seeded Houston Rockets were also slated for action on the opening day of the playoffs, hosting the Dallas Mavericks.

The Rockets secured the Southwest Division title on the final day of a season in which they were lifted by the play of Most Valuable Player candidate James Harden.

Houston boasted the sixth-best scoring offense in the league. They will need to improve defensively against the Mavericks, who were the fifth-most efficient offense in the NBA.

The Mavericks collected another 50-win season, but only finished seventh in the rugged Western Conference.

Despite some late-season struggles Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said he believes his team can contend.

“The fact that the period since the All-Star break has been difficult is something that helps us,” Carlisle said.

“Even though we haven’t played our best all the time, we’ve played rugged opponents for 27 games now since the break, and we’ve had to earn every win.”

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