Breaking the Curse

After the opening ceremony, both teams' starting lineups were announced in turn.

Having gone through the first two games, Cole had finally learned his lesson. He replaced Bogut with Iguodala and went straight to a Small Ball Lineup.

The Pelicans stuck with their regular lineup. What they still needed was attention to detail.

Davis won the tip-off over Green, officially drawing the curtain on Game 5 of the series.

The Pelicans used the same tactics as in the previous two games. Jokic held the ball at the top of the arc and fed Davis in the low post.

Davis backed down Green, spun toward the baseline, and shot.

Green defended the play well and added a few subtle moves the referees could not see.

Davis was disrupted and failed to make the shot.

Green turned and secured the Defensive Rebound.

The Warriors failed to score in transition and fell into a Set Play. Curry came off a curl without the ball, caught Green's pass, and buried a three.

Thompson had Buddha's Light Shines in the last game. This time, it looked like Curry was about to go supernova.

Holiday brought the ball into the frontcourt, and the Warriors' defensive formation remained unchanged.

Jokic glanced at Barnes in front of him and drove straight inside with the ball.

Just as he broke into the paint, the Warriors made a subtle defensive adjustment.

Green came over to help and immediately trapped him.

Jokic passed to Davis, and Green recovered to play Top defense on him.

This defensive adjustment fully brought out Green's Movement speed.

Davis made an Inside-to-inside pass back to Jokic, and Green trapped him again.

Jokic had not completed his muscle gain, so he was still weak in physical battles. His spinning layup failed to go in.

Barnes grabbed the