New Orleans Pelicans: Game Grades for loss to Sacramento Kings
The New Orleans Pelicans entered Tuesday night’s game with the Sacramento Kigns with expectations. The team was expected to beat Sacramento after doing so last week on the Kings home floor and with the services of Omer Asik available after a four game absence due to a back injury. Instead the Kings took advantage of an off night from Anthony Davis and the rest of the Pelicans to steal a win while missing their second and third leading scorers.
69. Final. 99. 84. 89
C. When <strong><a href=. PG. New Orleans Pelicans. JRUE HOLIDAY
SF/PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. TYREKE EVANS. B. <strong><a href=
ANTHONY DAVIS. D. This was the first dud that Anthony Davis put up all year. On defense he got lost at times and missed his help responsibilities. On offense he struggled to shoot early and just kind of disappeared in the second half. The Pelicans just can’t win when that happens. . PF/C. New Orleans Pelicans
C. Asik was good defensively against <strong><a href=. C. New Orleans Pelicans. OMER ASIK
Anderson was fine on offense where he made some easy shots and some tough shots to compile 20 points. But on defense he struggled mightily and the Kings repeatedly targeted him. It was ugly. . PF/SF. New Orleans Pelicans. RYAN ANDERSON. B
PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. AUSTIN RIVERS. C. Rivers competed but the early season finishing we saw from him seems to be gone which is a big problem. Rivers was just 2-6 from the floor including some ugly misses inside. He has to score and make threes with Gordon out, tonight he didn’t.
C-. The first half on offense was nice from Jimmer when he found Withey inside for an and-one on the fast break, found Anderson inside for a dunk and an and-one. But the Kings attacked him on defense and got buckets a few times and he was largely invisible in the few second half minutes he got. Just wasn’t very good. . PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. JIMMER FREDETTE
D. <strong><a href=. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. JOHN SALMONS
D. The problem for the Pelicans is <strong><a href=. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. DARIUS MILLER
A-. <strong><a href=. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. LUKE BABBITT
A-. I thought Withey did some good things tonight on both ends of the floor. He was late on a rotation or two here and there but he fought Cousins hard in the post and finished in the lane well when he got the ball. It was clearly a step up from the minutes that <strong><a href=. C. New Orleans Pelicans. JEFF WITHEY
Other observations:
- The Pelicans lost this game for a multitude of reasons. Anthony Davis struggled, the offense was a tire fire when Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday sat and the bench (outside of Ryan Anderson) wasn’t good. One of those things is an easy fix. The other two aren’t. That is the problem.
- This loss hurts. The Pelicans had a home game against a team that they could be competing for a playoff spot with who was down their second and third leading scorers. It is a game good teams win. A game that playoff caliber teams win. This could matter a lot at the end of the year. It is a tough one to swallow.
- I don’t consider Ryan Anderson a bench player at this point. Yes he enters the game off the bench but a large chunk of Anderson’s minutes come with four other starters and he plays the fifth most minutes on the team. He is essentially a sixth starter. The Pelicans have gotten some production from Austin Rivers early in the year off the bench and nothing else. You can’t win consistently in the NBA with six and a half players. The Pelicans are entering this stretch without Eric Gordon trying to win with five and a half. Anderson is going to skew bench scoring numbers. Tonight the Pelicans players who played the sixth through eleventh most minutes finished with 14 points. The Kings who played the sixth through ninth most minutes finished with 30. That is a bench problem.
- The Pelicans get back at it this weekend with a tough back-to-back against the Hawks and Wizards.