Grades: Jrue Holiday and New Orleans Pelicans Fall to the Rockets

69. Final. 112. 169. 111

Yet another uninspiring game from beloved New Orleans legend Norris Cole. He had 10 points on 4/11 shooting, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 turnovers in 34 minutes. His defense was solid, and he hit 2/4 of his threes, but he was still a net negative on the court and has absolutely no business being in the starting lineup. As the days pass I find myself daydreaming about Ish Smith’s radiant smile more and more.. PG. . NORRIS COLE. C+

D. Has Gentry finally realized that Tyreke isn’t this team’s second best player? Tyreke played just 16 minutes tonight, shot 2/6 from the floor, had 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and gave Anthony Davis a concussion. He didn’t play in the entire fourth quarter, which allowed Jrue Holiday to lead the team forward, close the gap, and remain competitive up until the final buzzer. Hopefully Gentry finally understands that Tyreke is nothing more than a high usage bench player.. SG, PG,. . TYREKE EVANS

Gee simply isn’t an offensive player, he’s like the Omer Asik of small forwards. He shot 2/7 from the floor and missed both his free throws. Still, he is an elite hustler and plays some great situational defense. He had a season high 10 rebounds and grabbed two steals in addition to swatting away a key late game corner drive. That kind of hustle is enough for him to earn a B- in my book.. SF, SG. . ALONZO GEE. B-

. ANTHONY DAVIS. B. Davis left the game in the 2nd quarter with a concussion so there isn’t much to say other than mourn his absence. He had 9 points and 6 rebounds in 18 minutes on 4/9 shooting, which would put him on pace for about a 20-12 game. It’s really a tragedy he got injured when the Pelicans finally started winning some games, his presence probably would have been enough to pull out a victory tonight.. PF, C

?. . I literally cannot even asses Asik’s performance tonight. He started the game, but played just 6 total minutes. In those 6 minutes he made one FG, hit one free throw, grabbed 2 rebounds and got the boot. I guess that’s a solid stat-line? I honestly have no idea. . C. . OMER ASIK

 START JRUE HOLIDAY. Seriously, this team needs to realize that Jrue is their clear 2nd best player. He scored 32 points on 13/21 shooting, dished out 9 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds to go along with 3 steals and ELITE defense. This team routinely has to deal with slow ugly starts where Tyreke and Cole make terrible decisions, and wait until halfway through the first for Jrue to come in and give this team some direction. Tyreke should be a bench player and Jrue should be a starter, this game is a perfect example of that fact. One of them was a -24 and got to start, the other was a +16 and is for some reason still a bench player.. PG. . JRUE HOLIDAY. A+++++

B+.  Anderson stepped up in the absence of Anthony Davis. He always seems to bring it when AD is out, and he’s perfectly capable of matching the production of other starting PFs. He ended the game with 22 points on 7/20 shooting and grabbed an above average 9 rebounds in his 37 minutes. I would give him an A, but his defense is still so hard to watch. When the Rockets went small, he struggled to keep up with their wing players coming off screens and leaking out in transition. Still, he did his best and he stepped up in the vacuum Davis left.. PF. . RYAN ANDERSON

C+. Dante was solid. He chipped in his usual 7 points on 3/6 shooting to go along with 3 rebounds and two blocks. Alvin Gentry is playing him at PF while using him as a SG, which I’m not sure he’s used to. Regardless, he has committed to changing his outside game in his late 20s and outplayed Alonzo Gee on the offensive end (though that’s really not any sort of an accomplishment).. SF,PF. . DANTE CUNNINGHAM

TONEY DOUGLAS. A. Douglas had a fantastic game tonight. He scored 18 points on 6/8 shooting form the floor and 3/4 shooting from deep to go along with 3 rebounds and 6 assists in just 25 minutes. He should be getting the minutes Norris Cole is getting, just like Jrue should be getting the minute Tyreke is getting, but I’m not sure how many times I can keep saying that without eventually losing my mind.. PG.