New Orleans Pelicans dominate Los Angeles Lakers 109-102
By Rick Stone
After a tough loss on Monday night in Cleveland, the New Orleans Pelicans responded by dominating a tired Los Angeles Lakers team 109-102. The Lakers held strong early on in the game, leading by two after one quarter and trailing by only 3 at halftime. However, Anthony Davis helped lead the charge in the second half on both ends of the floor, and the Pelicans took over the game from there.
Other Observations:
- After a fantastic job at cutting down on the turnovers in Cleveland, the Pelicans had a sloppy game tonight, committing 13 turnovers compared to the five they put up last game. A lot of over passing and bad decision making caused the overflow of mistakes on the Pelicans end.
- New Orleans did not do a good job at all of cashing in from the charity stripe. The Pelicans shot only 11-18 from the free-throw line, and while getting to the line for 18 free throws can be seen as a positive, they have to cash in on the opportunities when they get them in the future.
- As expected, the Pelicans completely controlled the paint in this game, scoring 60 of their 109 points inside the paint. The threesome of AD, Asik and Anderson along with the driving guards was too much for the lack of defensive force on the Los Angeles Lakers.
- Along with the overflow of turnovers was the overflow of fouls committed by New Orleans. There were 24 fouls called on the Pelicans on the night against a team that relies a ton on outside shooting so far this season. The Pelicans need to do a better job at staying in front of their man going forward.
- While the Pelicans held on to win this game, the failure to close out their opponent strong is something to look at very closely. With 5:58 to go, New Orleans had a 19 point lead and Monty Williams decided to keep his starters into the game. The Pelicans gave up a 12 point swing in those final six minutes, something that could be a sign of worry for a team that will see much closer games going forward.