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.
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.