New Orleans Pelicans: Game grades for win over Oklahoma City Thunder
Facing an early season need to win game the New Orleans Pelicans responded to recent adversary and defeated the returning Kevin Durant and his Oklahoma City Thunder 112-104 in New Orleans. The Pelicans core of Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Ryan Anderson led New Orleans by combining for 94 points on the night. It was exactly what the team needed ahead of the looming trip to California.
104. 149. 112. 69. Final
This was exactly the type of game that the Pelicans acquired <strong><a href=. PG. New Orleans Pelicans. JRUE HOLIDAY. A+
A. Evans was good throughout the game but the fourth quarter was where he really shined. With the Pelicans unable to get the ball to <strong><a href=. SF/PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. TYREKE EVANS
PF/C. New Orleans Pelicans. ANTHONY DAVIS. A+. Utter domination. With the Pelicans really needing a win at the start of a very tough run Davis delivered. In the first half it was scoring as Davis piled up 21 points to keep New Orleans afloat during a rough start. Then in the second half it was defense and passing for Davis as he scored just four points the rest of the way while adding a rebound, two assists, three steals and three blocks in the second half. It was a perfect example of how disruptive AD can be on both ends in the same night.
A. Asik as usual was a tough grade. Defensively and on the glass he was a monster as he met player after player around the rim to make life tough for OKC. When the Thunder did miss it was more often than not Asik coming away with the rebound for the Pelicans as he corralled 14 boards on the night. Yet offensively Asik remained a mess. He was blocked three times near the rim and finished 1-5 shooting. The Pelicans offense grinds to a halt with Asik in the game at times and it is starting to become a big issue.. C. New Orleans Pelicans. OMER ASIK
PF/SF. New Orleans Pelicans. RYAN ANDERSON. A-. The 23 points off the bench are going to be what most people praise Anderson for but his biggest contribution tonight came on the glass. Anderson pulled in six offensive rebounds for the Pelicans and almost all seemed to come at big moments. There was a sequence in the fourth quarter during which Anderson drew a foul on <strong><a href=
PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. AUSTIN RIVERS. D. Turnovers, silly fouls, missed shots, Rivers did it all again tonight. The Pelicans won but it was mostly thanks to the great play of the starters. Rivers played so well early in the season but unfortunately it hasn’t carried over to a bigger role.
D. Jimmer’s night in a nutshell: He made a nice steal on the defensive end of the floor in the second quarter and then missed the layup after slowing down to create contact.. PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. JIMMER FREDETTE
C. The rebounding was nice but Salmons has a bad habit of doing one of two things on offense. Either he aimlessly stands around doing nothing or he takes silly contested pull-up 16 footers. Tonight it was the former including one possession when he ended up less than an arm’s length away from Jrue Holiday away from the ball during a play and just stood there.. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. JOHN SALMONS
B. Babbitt played his role perfectly tonight. He made a few big threes as the Pelicans went on their run late in the second quarter and he made <strong><a href=. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. LUKE BABBITT
D. Six minutes, three fouls. Ajinca gonna Ajinca. . C. New Orleans Pelicans. ALEXIS AJINCA
Other observations:
- This was fun to watch, even if the reasons behind the win aren’t necessarily sustainable. Anderson, Davis, Holiday and Evans combined for 94 points on 35-71 shooting (49.2 percent) and seemed to get a bucket any time the Pelicans needed one. Those four guys combining for that amount of points on that good of shooting won’t happen often so it was nice that New Orleans got the win when they did.
- The foul shooting is starting to become a problem. Coming into tonight the Pelicans ranked 21st in the league in free throw percentage at 73 percent and they shot 64.4 percent tonight. Some of that is Asik and Rivers, two bad free throw shooters who combined for five of the 16 Pelicans misses, but Davis missing seven was surprising. It seems each night one of the Pelicans good free throw shooters struggles but the personnel is there to fix it quickly.
- The importance of this win cannot be overstated. The Pelicans were on a three game losing streak with a games against the Warriors on Thursday, Clippers on Saturday and Mavericks next week. That losing streak could have easily moved to six games with a loss tonight and a seven loss in nine game stretch into next week. In a conference that is going to take 48 wins to make the playoffs each game is important. Good on the Pelicans for stepping up to the challenge and performing.