New Orleans Pelicans Quickcap: Pelicans fall to Warriors 111-95

The NBA Season began tonight and unfortunately, it ended in a New Orleans Pelicans defeat at the hands of the defending champion Golden State Warriors, 111-95.

The first half wasn’t too terrible, with the Pelicans only falling behind by ten at the break. Despite a horrendous 1-9 shooting performance from Anthony Davis, New Orleans was able to stay within striking distance thanks in large part to 11 points by newly claimed Ish Smith and eight points from Kendrick Perkins. Yes, that’s right. Ish Smith and Kendrick Perkins led the Pelicans in scoring at the half. What a time to be alive.

Davis’ struggles continued in the third, where he pushed his field goal drought to 1-15. The rest of the team didn’t fare much better, as the Warriors extended their lead way out to an unreachable point, ending the game with a score of 111-95 over the New Orleans Pelicans. Davis finished with 18 points on 4-20 shooting. Ish Smith had 17 points, nine assists, and led the Pelicans with a positive net rating of +5.

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MVP: Ish Smith

Smith was claimed by the New Orleans Pelicans just yesterday, not even having one full day with the team before he was thrust into action. He quite honestly did a heck of a lot better than the starting point guard, Nate Robinson. Smith seems like a nice fit within a fast paced, Alvin Gentry offense. He is always looking to push the ball and get into the lane. He overdribbles a lot and gets himself into more trouble than he needs to be in for a guys his size, but I’ll take his streaky shooting and speedy change of pace. You could do worse for a third point guard.

LVP: Anthony Davis

This hurts to write, given that I’m one of the people driving the Davis MVP bandwagon. There was no excuse for his performance tonight quite honestly. For a guy who normally lets the game come to him, he forced his own show way to often and it resulted in some terrible looking heaves most of the time. To make matters even worse, some of the Warriors dribbled circles around him at times on the defensive end. This wasn’t his best performance, nor do I expect it to continue for him. It stinks that probably the worst game of his career came on opening night against the defending champs and a chance to show the world how dominant you can be.

X-Factor: Dante Cunningham

Cunningham quietly had a solid personal performance before going down in the third quarter after bumping heads with Andrew Bogut. Cunningham showed off his improved jumper, knocking down 2-3 from distance and tallying 13 points total in the game. This not only makes Cunningham a viable wing player, but also could be an X-Factor late in games if the Pelicans decide they want to go small. You won’t have to sacrifice much on offense playing Cunningham at power forward now if the shooting proves to be consistent.

Turning point: Every Stephen Curry three

Seriously, this guy didn’t miss at all. It was a classic Steph game. The Pelicans had absolutely zero momentum the entire game thanks in large part to an unreal, yet typical Curry game. When this guy is hitting dagger three after dagger three and you’re on the road, it is near impossible to get into any sort of rhythm.

Defining moment: Anthony Davis bricking shots

Some of these AD shots were horrendous. It seemed like every time he went to shoot he had no clue what he was going to do. He was indecisive and tentative yet forced his own shot at the same time. It was weird and uncharacteristic for a guy who is one of the best players in the league.

That was… UGLY

Hopefully the New Orleans Pelicans can regroup for their game against the Portland Trailblazers Wednesday night. They could be without Dante Cunningham, who possibly has a concussion after his collision with Andrew Bogut. I don’t expect Davis to have near as bad of game tomorrow night either, not only because Portland should be a much weaker opponent but this bad of play from AD just isn’t likely. An opening night game against the defending champs without the majority of your team was not the best way to start the season, but I trust coach Alvin Gentry to get things figured out and right the ship.

Next: Has Jamaal Charles Lost a Step?

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