Pelica Debrief
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New Orleans Pelicans fight off Miami Heat for their fourth consecutive win 104-102

By Rick Stone

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The Pelicans started this most recent winning streak against the Miami Heat. They kept it going by beating the Heat for the second time in six days.

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For the fourth straight game, the New Orleans Pelicans managed to beat an Eastern conference team without Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson or Jrue Holiday. In the closing seconds of the game with Tyreke Evans fouled out, Eric Gordon used a pick-and-roll to find Alexis Ajinca inside for the easy bucket and a two-point lead with less than a minute left. The Heat failed to respond and the Pelicans held on for the victory.

Alexis Ajinca continued the Pelicans theme of “Any one can step up and be the star”, leading the team in scoring with 24 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Before fouling out, Tyreke Evans notched another double-double with 19 points and 11 assists. Luol Deng scored 22 points for the Heat, while Goran Dragic contributed 20 points of his own.

102. 110. 104. 69. Final

SF/PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. TYREKE EVANS. C+. <strong><a href=

ERIC GORDON. B-. <a href=. SG. New Orleans Pelicans

B.  <a href=. SF/PF. New Orleans Pelicans. DANTE CUNNINGHAM

B. <a href=. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. QUINCY PONDEXTER

OMER ASIK. C. <a href=. C. New Orleans Pelicans

LUKE BABBITT. C. <a href=. SF. New Orleans Pelicans

A+. Give it up to <b><a href=. C. New Orleans Pelicans. ALEXIS AJINCA

C-. <a href=. PG. New Orleans Pelicans. NORRIS COLE

PG. New Orleans Pelicans. JIMMER FREDETTE. B-.  <strong><a href=

Other Observations:

  •  The Pelicans fourth quarter defense saved the day. The Heat only managed 20 points in the final 12 minutes after scoring at least 25 points in each quarter prior. The Pelicans made it tough to score the basketball late in the game, changing the outlook of the game and helping the Pelicans overcome a nine-point deficit at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
  • Another big factor was the free-throw differential. With 9:26 left in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans drew their fifth foul on Miami in the quarter, putting the Pelicans in the penalty. After that play, the Pelicans got to the line for 12 free-throw attempts for the rest of the game. The easy points the Pelicans were able to manufacture from attacking the Miami defense helped mightily in their comeback.
  • One of the areas of weakness for New Orleans was their paint defense. The Pelicans gave up 52 points in the paint against the NBA’s third worst team in points in the paint. Two big reasons for this were easy transition points for the Heat and bad help-defense, which led to wide open looks for Miami players on screens and backdoor cuts. Those mistakes resulted in a lot of easy points for the Heat. That has to be corrected when the Pelicans goes out against the juggernauts of the NBA, especially in the Western Conference.
  • This stretch of basketball is keeping the Pelicans alive in the playoff hunt. With this one, the Pelicans are now one game back of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the eighth seed, with the Thunder playing Portland later tonight. The Pelicans are also just three and a half back of the San Antonio Spurs in the seventh seed. While it will be extremely difficult for the Pelicans to overcome the injuries, the way they’ve played on this four-game winning streak has kept their hopes for the playoffs alive.
  • New Orleans will look to accumulate their largest winning streak of the season at five in a row when they travel to Denver to play the Nuggets on Sunday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM CST.

With the big game from Alexis Ajinca, the Pelicans Twitter page decided to come up with a new nickname for him…..

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