The 106-99 Game 1 victory Saturday didn't come easily for the Warriors, even after dominating New Orleans for most of the game at Oracle Arena.
But despite high expectations, the Warriors will certainly take a win in which Stephen Curry scored 34 points and they led by as many as 25 points in the third quarter.
They then had to survive New Orleans' furious comeback attempts, as the Pelicans behind star forward Anthony Davis' 35 points battled back and cut the lead to 103-99 with 9.7 seconds left.