New Orleans Pelicans Awards: Pelicans routed by Celtics
Coming off of a nice win on Friday night the New Orleans Pelicans had a chance to build momentum. Instead they laid an egg.
Coming off of two days rest and at home against the Boston Celtics the New Orleans Pelicans looked to be in a good position to build on their win Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Alas it was not meant to be as the Celtics brought a ton of energy on defense and out worked the Pelicans in all facets of the game on their way to a 111-93 victory. The story of the game for the Pelicans was how poorly the starters played. The Celtics backcourt pitched a shutout on their oppositions holding Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon to a combined zero points ZERO! Davis struggled to find his shot and looked tentative all game. The Pelicans defense was poor all night, giving up easy transition baskets and committing a number of dumb fouls.
MVP: Isaiah Thomas
Thomas absolutely torched the Pelicans in the 2nd quarter. He was hitting everything and no Pelicans defender was able to do anything about it. Thomas was the catalyst in the Celtics pulling away and was in control the whole game
LVP: Tyreke Evans/Norris Cole
The two players who everyone assumed would help turn this season around played absolutely terrible. Evans constantly attacked the rim with no avail and either forced up a terrible layup or turned it over. Tyreke checked out midway through the third and never returned. As far as Cole I have officially grown tired of him chucking up bad shots and being a ball stopper offensively. Ish Smith should get a chance to dig into his minutes.
X-Factor: Avery Bradley
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Avery Bradley’s offense was decent, nothing spectacular but his defense on Tyreke tonight was fantastic. He stayed in front of him on drives, forcing errand passes and contested shots. Bradley also visibly frustrated Evans and completely took one of the Pelicans key players out of the game
Turning Point: Tyreke Evans’ technical foul
In the second quarter when the Celtics began pulling away, Tyreke Evans drove recklessly to the rim against Avery Bradley, he missed then rebounded his miss then attempted an easy putback and missed again. Reke was visibly upset believing he was fouled. Barking at the ref he got a dumb technical. This play just emphasized how poorly Tyreke was tonight.
Defining Moment: Anthony Davis misses alley oop
This may seem like an odd choice due to the game clearly being out of reach already but it totally summed up the night for the Pelicans. It was a three on one fast break with Holiday, Davis and Gee all running, Jrue throws the alley oop but Davis could not handle it cleanly and missed. This play not only sums up the Pels for this game but the season as a whole. Things that we were used to seeing last year are just not working for whatever reason right now.
Next: At least Perk may be back soon?
That Was……… Pelican basketball
It pains me to say because I want to believe that this team is good, I really do but eventually it may be time to accept that this is what the 2015-2016 Pelicans are. They are a bad team with average individual players and one great one. Good teams do not lose this game the way the Pelicans did. They were never in this game and any attempt to mount a comeback was immediately thwarted by a quick Celtics basket. Good basketball teams do not allow this to happen on their home court, they weren’t just outplayed they were out worked. Most of the main pieces are back healthy but even with the new-found health, the same mistakes are occurring, eventually it may be time to accept that the Pelicans just are not that good. Next game is not until Friday against the Wizards.