The New Orleans Pelicans lost Monday night to the Cleveland Cavaliers 111-118. Despite a monster first half from Ryan Anderson, and another spectacular game from our Overlord Anthony Davis. Coming out of halftime, the Pelicans had a five point lead, thanks mostly to Ryan Anderson, but gave up the lead in the third quarter after we witnessed what might be the Cavaliers figuring out this whole chemistry thing. The Cavaliers never looked back.
Other Observations:
- In the first half, the pick and roll, and the pick and pop, were working wonders for the Pelicans. Ryan Anderson lit the scoreboard up running pick and pop’s, and fading out to the line when Austin Rivers or Jrue Holiday would drive opposite side. If the Pelicans would have had three quarters of how they played in the first half, they could have been in position to win the game. But, they decided to play stagnant, impatient basketball, as does happen with this time from time to time.
- At one point in the game, the Cavaliers had eight rebounds, while the Pelicans had seven offensive rebounds. This was towards the middle of the first quarter. Soon after Omer Asik left the floor, the Cavaliers started to gain an edge rebounding, even with the amazing length of Anthony Davis. When both left the floor, (Asik and Davis) the Pelicans look lost trying to rebound the ball, and on defense. Monty Williams needs to keep making sure one of the two is on the floor at all times.
- If Monty Williams is going to keep trying to get a true Small Forward in with the bench unit, he may want to consider playing Darius Miller. I know John Salmons is a veteran guy, but he is giving this team nothing. Darius Miller is a young guy in the league, who cannot do worse than John Salmons has been doing so far. I believe that a young guy who can shoot three’s, is going to be a little more helpful than John Salmons. Maybe this is a hot take though. (editors note: Andrew knows that Darius is away from the team. He is just talking in general here.)
- This wasn’t a bad loss for the Pelicans, however, as Rick Stone (@RickStoneNBA) mentioned on twitter, this was a blown opportunity. The Pelicans beat the defending champs on Saturday, and were looking to defeat what some people believe to be a title contender this year. It could have been much worse.