Grades: New Orleans Pelicans Demolish Minnesota Timberwolves

69. Final. 102. 86. 116

NORRIS COLE. C+. Solid game for Cole. He didn’t make a huge impact on the game, but with the way Jrue Holiday was playing he didn’t need to. He dropped 10 points, 6 assists, and 3 rebounds on 4/9 shooting from the floor with only one turnover to go along with his fairly efficient stat-line. Cole played the first half of this season as a complete detriment, but lately his play has been more than acceptable.. PG.

12 minutes, 4 shots, 0 makes, and 0 points. Tough night for BDJ on the offensive end, and it’s not like he was bringing it on defense either. He did chip in 4 rebounds and 2 assists, but considering how terrible his defense is, that’s not quite enough. Still, he’s making 10-day contract money, so I’m not sure what is a fair expectation level to set on him at this point.. SG, SF,. . BRYCE DEJEAN-JONES. D

SF, PF. . DANTE CUNNINGHAM. B. Dante didn’t do much in this game, but where he did contribute he made sure to do so efficiently and with precision. He ended the game with 8 points, 2 rebounds and an assist on 4/5 shooting, playing his usual brand of solid, hustle based defense. ideally, you want Dante playing as a small-ish power forward, but he’s gotten more than comfortable sliding into the small forward role when necessary.

PF, C. . ANTHONY DAVIS. A. Davis seems to really hate the Minnesota Timberwolves. In his last game against them he dropped 35, and in this game he dropped 27 on 12/20 shooting in just 31 minutes. He also chipped in 8 rebounds, an assist, and 2 steals to go along with his incredible defense and a nice looking +15 net rating on the court. He struggled a little from the free throw line (2/6), but overall a great performance from “the Brow” in a fairly important game.  

. OMER ASIK. B-. . Asik did his job. He played 17 minutes, and grabbed 8 rebounds as well as hitting 2/3 of his shots. We don’t expect much from Asik, nor should we, and he did what he was supposed to do for the team tonight. The Pelicans were murdering the Wolves with small-ball tonight, so Asik didn’t get much burn, but he made good use of the minutes he got. . B

JRUE HOLIDAY. A++.  I love me some Jrue Holiday. 27 points in just 27 minutes played on 11/23 shooting from the floor and 3/7 shooting from deep. He is clearly the Pelicans’ 2nd best player and he has gotten so comfortable in his role this season, it’s hard to imagine him not remaining a staple of this Pelicans core for years to come. He also dropped 9 assists and 6 rebounds, while playing elite defense and orchestrating the offense each time down the floor. Has AD found his Robin? This season has me leaning towards a “yes.”. PG.

. RYAN ANDERSON. A.  Fantastic game for Rhino as well. I can’t think of another team in the league with a bench combo as dangerous as Holiday and Anderson, or even one that comes close. Anderson dropped 26 points, 3 rebounds, a steal, and a block in 31 minutes on 9/17 shooting. He is absolutely a starting level player, but he and Jrue seem perfectly happy to dominate games off the bench.. PF

B+. Babbit has emerged! After a long period of absence, the Luke-inator is back. He dropped a very nice looking 8 points on 3/6 shooting and shot 2/4 from deep and had a nice +10 next to his name as well. He did most of his work in garbage time, but it was good work nonetheless.. SF,PF. . LUKE BABBIT

C. . ALEXIS AJINCA. D+. I still feel like Ajinca has so much more to give this team, but he keeps failing to show it. He got a solid 16 minutes of burn tonight and shot 0/4 for the floor, scoring 0 points. He had a solid 5 rebounds in his limited time, but is he’s going to be on the floor he should be scoring and putting up points. Maybe Ajinca is just a scrubby backup big man, but I still wonder if Gentry could use him more than we’ve seen so far.