New Orleans Pelicans beat Utah Jazz 106-94
The New Orleans Pelicans beat the Utah Jazz Saturday night 106-94. In a game which saw Anthony Davis hit a new personal best scoring, Eric Gordon leave with an injury, and Omer Asik failing to dress yet again, it was a fun watch, minus the Gordon injury. The Pelicans dominated the first half leading 57-40 going into the break, then started to slip up in the third quarter. Luckily, they fixed their no Anthony Davis in the fourth quarter offense tonight, and let the big man do everything. It was a good win for the Pelicans on the second game of a back-to-back (SEGABABA) in which both games were played on the road.
94. 118. 106. 69. Final
A. So, it would appear that when Jrue and Anthony Davis are working well together in the pick and roll, and Jrue is playing good defense, this team can win games. Reason enough for an “A”? I think so. . PG. New Orleans Pelicans. JRUE HOLIDAY
New Orleans Pelicans. ERIC GORDON. INC. As it would turn out, Eric Gordon was injured tonight. He suffered a shoulder injury, and did not return. . SG
Tyreke struggled at the rim again tonight, and had a tough time guarding Gordon Heyward. In other words, he didn’t do fantastic tonight. . SF/PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. TYREKE EVANS. C-
A++++++++. I guess it was only a matter of time, but Anthony Davis set a new career high for scoring tonight with 43 points. Turns out when your best player has his best game of his career, it’s hard to lose, even with two starters out for half of the game, and playing your second game of a back-to-back on the road. That was a fun run-on sentence. . PF/C. New Orleans Pelicans. ANTHONY DAVIS
N/A. Still injured. . C. New Orleans Pelicans. OMER ASIK
D. When you only make two shots, this is what grade you get. Period. Get out of your mini-slump Ryan, this team desperately needs you. . PF/SF. New Orleans Pelicans. RYAN ANDERSON
C+. My favorite part about <strong><a href=. PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. AUSTIN RIVERS
A. I’m giving Jimmer an A because he played in Utah, where he played college ball. Some say I’m sentimental.. PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. JIMMER FREDETTE
Babbitt played eight minutes, and literally did nothing to the stat sheet, and posted a -12 plus/minus. Not so nice. . SF. New Orleans Pelicans. LUKE BABBITT. F--
C-. He started off well, then turned into more of what we’ve seen throughout this season, which was not so fun. Still, he didn’t play bad, and seemed to help the team at the start. . C. New Orleans Pelicans. ALEXIS AJINCA
JEFF WITHEY. B. Should probably be playing more than Ajinca, but, I’m not the coach. . C. New Orleans Pelicans
Other Observations:
- Coaching grades are coming soon in a cleaner fashion. For Saturday night’s game, it’ll be right here. Monty Williams played a good amount of players, and was relatively aware of the game games flow, calling timeouts, and letting the guys play at what seemed to be the right times. Also, he let Austin Rivers fill in for Eric Gordon after the injury, so not to bad. Monty gets a B for the night.
- Anthony Davis is good at basketball.
- When Jure Holiday puts up 19 points, nine assists, and six rebounds, I like the teams odds at winning the game. Also of note, Jrue started to play a LOT better once Eric Gordon left with his injury. Just something to keep an eye on.
- Ryan Anderson, as I mentioned in your grade, please, please, please get back to making buckets. You’ve been off your game a little bit, and with Eric Gordon probably missing time, it would be awesome if you would step up as the sixth man we’ve come to love you for being.
- Omer Asik didn’t play again tonight, somewhat troubling for a big man who has had injury issues in the past, and is dealing with a back injury. Hopefully he comes back soon, and it isn’t detrimental to his health.