For the second time in two nights, the New Orleans Pelicans started out strong only to have the lead slowly erode.
The New Orleans Pelicans played almost the exact same game two nights in a row. Just like against Memphis, the Pelicans started out extremely well by playing efficient offense and stifling defense. The cracks started to show in the second quarter and the Rockets pulled ahead and didn’t look back in the second half. Even though the Pelicans out-rebounded the Rockets by a wide margin, the advantage granted by that was negated by the overwhelming amount of turnovers.
Ryan Anderson led the cliff dive in terms of turnovers, with six while Tyreke Evans and Norris Cole both chipped in three a piece. It’s very difficult to win basketball games when the other team gets dramatically more opportunities. Looking ahead, the Pelicans play on Friday night; hopefully they won’t attempt the same thing a third time.
Other Observations
- Tyreke Evans, as I wrote about earlier, makes the entire offense flow much better.
- Omer Asik benefited from the matchup against Dwight Howard from a minutes perspective.
- Alonzo Gee is not even a decent NBA player, and the fact that he starts says a lot about the team’s talent level.
- Norris Cole, through two games, has been atrocious. He needs to turn it around.