Player Grades: New Orleans Pelicans Fall Short Against Los Angeles Clippers

Final. 114. 77. 96. 69

New Orleans Pelicans. TIM FRAZIER. D. Tim Frazier was bad tonight. He started off the game very well. Frazier was getting into sets early and often. He was constantly leaking out in transition to get early baskets. Frazier finished the first quarter with five points and five assists. Even more impressive than the numbers, though was his willingness to push. After the first quarter though, the offense slowed down significantly and Frazier couldn’t adjust. In the half-court, he was a non factor, as the Clippers willingness to switch on all screens limited his outlet options. Many times tonight, he was forced into settling for wild attempts thrown at the rim. The length of the Clippers clearly bothered Frazier.. Defensively, the Clippers had him all over the place and he was a major culprit in allowing dribble penetration.. PG

C-. Jrue was not assertive enough on the offensive end tonight. Maybe it is not in his DNA to shoot often, but he has to have big scoring nights for this team to win games against upper echelon competition. Defensively he was brilliant, as he was smothering Chris Paul all game. Although the defense as a unit was porous, Jrue noticeably stood out. Offensively, however, nine points on 12 shots won’t cut it. He struggled with the interior length of the Clippers and his teammates didn’t do a good job of opening up the floor. The lack of shooting hampered New Orleans’ ability to find easy shots at the rim.. G. New Orleans Pelicans. JRUE HOLIDAY

F. Hill was a disaster tonight. Sure, he made two three pointers, but he was a non-factor in every other way. The most disappointing part of his stat-line is his two rebounds. For a player who is playing a lot of minutes at the four. that is unacceptable. Hill won’t ever be an effective scorer for New Orleans, so it is a must that he finds other skills to bring to the table. Two rebounds, zero assists and average to above average defense will not cut it.. F. New Orleans Pelicans. SOLOMON HILL

Anthony Davis was on his way to a typically masterful game, before getting hurt in the 1st quarter. This season it seems like the only thing that can stop Davis is his own body. Defensively, he had a rough game. DeAndre Jordan was dominating him on the glass and AD allowed two huge 4th quarter rebounds. Davis also over-committed on drives to the rim and struggled on close-outs. Blake Griffin was shooting open 18 footers all night. Some of that may have been game-plan, but Davis was giving him far to much space. For the most part, Davis still played well. Easy baskets were hard to come by though and at some point, the Pelicans offense has to be more than “hope AD does something amazing”. Tonight against a good Clipper defense, that wasn’t effective.. PF. New Orleans Pelicans. ANTHONY DAVIS. B

New Orleans Pelicans. OMER ASIK. D+. Omer Asik was very “eh” tonight. Not bad, but not good. With that being said, he would have been better than Terrence Jones tonight. The team struggled with rebounds and the big-bodied Asik could have certainty softened the blow in that regard. However, on offense the Clippers completely ignored his presence. At one point, Raymond Felton found his way onto Asik……He locked him up. This is not something new, but the Clippers clear disregard for Asik hurt the offense in a major way tonight, considering no one could hit a three.. C

E'TWAUN MOORE. B+. E’Twaun Moore briefly flashed his 6th man prowess tonight. Despite playing only 19 minutes, Moore was able to score 15 points on only 12 attempts. It was shocking not to see Moore only get 19 minutes, as he was clearly the Pelicans second best scoring threat tonight. Moore also had a decent size advantage over the Clipper guards, which he used to score his first basket of the game. E’Twaun Moore has the potential to thrive in the role of 6th man as a volume scorer. And unlike most volume scorers, Moore does not hurt you with his defense.. G. New Orleans Pelicans

D+. Terrence Jones was abysmal tonight. His raw stats show that he played adequately. (14 points, nine rebounds and a block) However, he was lost on defense all night. Once the Clippers got into the paint, Jones was clueless on his rotations and defensive assignments. This allowed many open corner threes, where a Pelican would not be near the shooter. It was almost comical to watch a player get lost so badly. No joke, it was bad. On offense he flashed his pontential, completing some very nice passes and finishes. However, many times the ball would swing to him and he would hesitate and waste the chance. Or when Jones would get the ball in the paint, he would bring the ball too low and get stripped. Another hot and cold game from T-Jones.. F/C. New Orleans Pelicans. TERRENCE JONES

New Orleans Pelicans. LANGSTON GALLOWAY. F. If Langston Galloway had a theme song, it would be Katy Perry’s “Hot and Cold”. One game the guy can’t miss and it’s beautiful, and then there’s games like tonight, where he’s just throwing up bricks. Would love to have seen Gentry give Moore some of Galloway’s minutes tonight, but oh well. Expect these hot- and cold games from the streaky Galloway.. G

C. Anthony Brown played 25 minutes tonight and overall played very well. He missed badly on his three misses from deep, but other than that he ran the floor and spaced well. Brown is an intriguing player and if he can actually hit his threes, he can be valuable. He looks like an NBA player on the court, and dare I say he has the potential to be better than Solomon Hill. It’s a hot-take, but Brown seems to be climbing the ladder in the rotation. If Hill keeps struggling, then maybe…. F. New Orleans Pelicans. ANTHONY BROWN

ALEXIS AJINCA . INC. Alexis Ajinca made his first basket and then played bad basketball for the rest of the game.. C . New Orleans Pelicans

INC. Buddy Hield played 3 minutes and went two for two from the field. And he was the most plus Non-Anthony Davis player on the Pelicans roster tonight. Sad, kind of.. SG. New Orleans Pelicans. BUDDY HIELD