After beating the Houston Rockets on Saturday and climbing back to 500 at home the hope was that the Pelicans would began to rattle off some wins away from home as they traveled to Orlando. After a terrible start that saw the Pels fall behind 9-0 they responded well enough to finish the quarter only trailing by two. The offense looked pretty good in the first half as the ball did not stick and even though not all of the shots were falling it was a breath of fresh air to see the players attempting to play the system. The first half ended with Pelicans trailing by 4 but it felt like the Pels were not playing bad, the defense tightened up and the team was getting good shots. Once the second half begun the Pelicans regression begun, they were giving the Magic open looks everywhere and had no answer for Nikola Vucevic. The Magic won the 3rd quarter by 7 giving them an 11 point cushion heading into the 4th. New Orleans would never challenge the Magic again as Andrew Nicholson would score 11 4th quarter points to sustain the Magic lead. It is another disappointing result for the Pelicans who cannot find anyway to sustain good play. For every big win they have followed it with an even worse loss, and at this point it appears things will only get worse for the Pelicans before they get better. Now time for the awards.
MVP: Nikola Vucevic
Vucevic dominated this game. The Pelicans tried to play many defenders on him and he had his way with them all. Whether it was Asik, Davis or Anderson Vucevic rose over them and hit his hook shot. Vucevic final stat line was 28 points 8 rebounds and 7 assist. For a time built to protect the paint defensively it is disappointing to see Vucevic dominate the way he did.
LVP: Eric Gordon
After a scorching performance against Houston where Gordon could no miss he followed it up by going 1-5 from three and 1-6 overall. If this team wants to have a prayer of challenging for a playoff spot then it needs to find more consistency from its guards. Gordon took all jumpers and on defense he was constantly guilty of giving up open threes to Evan Fournier. Gordon is on this team to score and knock down threes, tonight he did neither which makes him a negative.
X-Factor: Andrew Nicholson
Andrew Nicholson is not a world beating player by any means but in the 4th quarter the Pelicans had no answer for him as he did whatever he wanted. Nicholson scored 11 of his 13 points in the final quarter to help the Magic hold on. He did it in a multitude of ways from three point shots. getting to the line, mid range, and even had an emphatic and one dunk to bury the Pelicans once and for all. It is amazing how often the Pelicans have let a role player take over games.
Turning Point: Magic big run in the third
The Pelicans and Orlando were going back and forth all game until midway through the the 3rd quarter. That is when Fourneir and Vucevic took over giving the magic a double digit lead they would not surrender.
Defining Moment: Andrew Nicholson and one dunk
The Pelicans were trailing by double digits with 5 minutes left in the 4th. That is when Victor Oladipo drove to the rim and found Andrew Nicholson at the wing who pumped fake Alexis Ajinca, drove to straight to the rim with no help in sight and dunked home an one jam. This play is the one that put the dagger through the Pelicans and it was a theme for the team all night. To many layups tonight with help arriving late.
That was……the usual
Another game where the Pelicans cannot sustain consistent offense another game where the Pelicans give up a big run to let a team pull away, another game in which the Pelicans let a role player kill them in the 4th. This game was nothing we have not seen before, whether its the giving up open layups, the bad offense, the forgetting of plays, the lack of urgency, this is who the 2015 New Orleans Pelicans are and expecting things to get better my be overly optimistic unless real changes occur. The Pelicans next game is Dec 31st at home against the Clippers.