Mirror, Mirror: Pelicans 119, Warriors 100

In Mirror, Mirror, episode 4 of season 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series, Captain Kirk, Chief engineer Scotty, Dr. McCoy, and Communications Officer Uhura are transported back onto the Enterprise but in a parallel universe where they encounter their evil, fascist counterparts on-board the ship. In this other dimensional plane Kirk and his team must use guile and subterfuge to get back to their universe and prevent the Halkan civilization from being destroyed. The Spock of the parallel universe tells Kirk, “Terror must be maintained or the empire is doomed.” On Friday night, the Warriors faced a brand of terror from the Pelicans that they themselves had been meting out in Games 1 and 2. It was is if they were looking in a mirror and seeing their opponent’s faces. The Pelicans, who had played stifling defense is Round 1 of the playoffs against the Trailblazers, regained their form on Friday night. They held the Warriors to 100 points, and they were the aggressors. In his article covering Game 1 of this series, Fast Break blogger Viggy asserted that the Warriors set the tone in that game. If that is the case, the Pelicans answered back on Friday resetting the tone. Before the game, Rajon Rondo told the media, “We’ve been at our best when our backs our against the wall, and our backs are against the wall. But I know how we’ll respond.” And respond they did. In the opening minutes of the game, with both teams missing early opportunities to score, Nikola Mirotic set a screen for a teammate and blatantly pushed Steph Curry out of the way. The idea was not just to free his teammate but to send a message to the Warriors that they were in for a dirty fight. Later in the quarter, Rajon Rondo entangled himself with Draymond Green on inbound play AFTER a time out had been called. A shoving match ensued that looked more like a game of paddy cake, paddy cake. But the message was delivered. Rondo would later in the fourth quarter stick his foot out and try to trip Green as he was going back to his bench. The tete a tete between Green and Rondo formulate the game within the game battle that is taking place on the court, and both of these floor leaders are sending messages not only to each other, but to their teammates that the war being waged takes place not only within the lines of the basketball court but between the ears. The Pelicans struck back in the physical on-court battle, but they also fired salvos in the psychological battle as well

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