Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown likes to say a playoff series doesn't really start until both teams get punched in the mouth. If that's true, then we've got ourselves a series in the Western Conference semifinals, because the Pelicans laid a heavyweight beating on the Warriors in Game 3 to cut Golden State's series lead to 2-1. The final score was 119-100. Somehow it wasn't even that close, at least not in the second half, when New Orleans took a six-point lead as high as 25 with the familiar desperation of team whose season was on the line. 

The Warriors, meanwhile, played like it was a throwaway game in January. They were out-shot. Out-defended. Out-executed. Out-paced. If the Warriors have a flaw, it's that they simply don't show up all the time. They get sloppy and apathetic, which isn't all that uncommon for a team that's pretty much cruised to this point in the playoffs and has had as much collective success as they have over the last three years. But it kills you all the same. Just look at the effort -- or lack of effort -- Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant put forth on this early defensive possession as Jrue Holiday gets a wide-open three:

That, obviously, is just way too easy, and it set the tone for the entire game. Every time you looked up, New Orleans was beating Golden State down the floor, on misses and makes. Their pace was relentless, particularly in the third quarter when they stretched the lead. Keeping the game in transition led to open looks from three in early offense. It led to Anthony Davis establishing early, deep post position. When possessions did settle into half-court sets, the Pelicans got so many easy layups and dunks through wide-open lanes out of basic screen actions. Exhibit A and B:

It wasn't all Golden State laying down, however. The Pelicans were making their own plays as much as the Warriors were giving them up. Let's not lose sight of that. Davis was a monster with 33 points and 18 boards. You see the guy making those passes in the above clip? That's Rajon Rondo, if you didn't know, and he's back to playing like a star. Dude dropped 21 assists. Controlled the whole floor. To say he's been big for the Pelicans is an understatement, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't one of the people who had, as Jamal Crawford says, written Rondo off a long time ago. 

I'll admit, I never thought that at this stage of Rondo's career, when he's had so many stretches on so many teams where he hardly looked worthy of starter minutes, that a second-round playoff team's success would be so inextricably linked to him. But he has change everything about this Pelicans team. The pace they play at, the way they share the ball, their energy and confidence, these are all at least partial functions of Rondo -- who, by the way, is a free agent this summer. They better re-sign him. Quickly. 

Rondo's point guard counterpart, Curry, was back in the starting lineup -- and perhaps the Warriors lulled themselves into thinking Curry's full return gave them enough margin for error to bring their C game and still escape with a win. They didn't even bring that, and either way, they were wrong. 

Curry, at least relative to his normal impact, was an effective non-factor with 18 points, six of which were in total garbage time. After putting up 28 off the bench in Game 2 after sitting out more than five weeks with a sprained knee, Curry saw the kind of defense from the Pelicans that Damian Lillard experienced in the first round. They went hard over screens. They showed and doubled. They immediately closed his airspace on the catch. They almost never lost connection with Curry off the ball as he ran through his normal maze of screens. 

Of course, stopping the Warriors these days is about more than stopping Curry. This is the quandary teams face: They have two players that demand double teams in Curry and Durant, and you can't double them both. Enter Jrue Holiday, who apparently doesn't need help guarding Durant. You're never going to shut Durant down completely, but Holiday held him to a pretty inefficient 22 points on 1 of 6 from three. Yes, Holiday gives up a good six or seven inches to Durant, but he's so strong and athletic that he can stay in front of Durant and muscle him off his spots. 

Holiday is making Durant work, plain and simple. Nothing easy. Durant is feeling Holiday, and you better believe Durant isn't used to someone so aggressively, and effectively, the space he typically controls. Check out Holiday stuffing Durant's jumper to ignite the break that ends in one of those aforementioned 3-pointers in early offense:

These playoffs have opened a lot of eyes, including my own, to just how good Holiday is. I think everyone who's followed the NBA knew he was a good player, but if he was always this kind of legitimate go-to scorer, if he's always been a guy who can get his own buckets from all three levels, then forgive me. I simply wasn't paying attention. I am now. 

I'm paying attention to everything about this Pelicans team right now. I am fascinated with what they have become without DeMarcus Cousins, and I'm probably even more fascinated by what they might still become should they decide to bring Cousins back next season. That's another discussion for another day, I suppose. 

For now, the Pelicans are back in this series vs. the Warriors. Can they ultimately win it? Let's not go there. Every playoff win, or loss, doesn't have to be looked at through the prism of ultimate predictions. Each game is its own. This was a good one for New Orleans. Now let's tune in Sunday for Game 4 and see if it can get another win and at least make this thing super interesting heading back to Oakland, and we'll go from there.