New Orleans Pelicans Awards: Pelicans find a narrow victory against the Philadelphia 76ers

The New Orleans Pelicans found a way to squeak out a narrow victory against the Philadelphia 76ers to start the final stretch of the season.

The New Orleans Pelicans didn’t make it look pretty late, but any win at this point in the season is a big one.

The Pelicans narrowly escaped their home arena with a victory against the team with the worst record in the NBA in the Philadelphia 76ers 121-114. After a lead that was as high as 20 points in the second quarter, the Pelicans started playing sloppy basketball and let the 76ers cut the lead to just two after the third quarter. The fourth quarter started with a big burst from the Pelicans, stretching the lead back to as high as eight. The Sixers continued attempting to claw back slowly, however New Orleans found a way to hold them off for the win.

Anthony Davis put up an offensive clinic on the night, finishing with 34 points, 22 of those coming in the first half. That included 16 made free-throws on the night. Jrue Holiday finished the game with a double-double of 24 points and 12 assists on the night. Nerlens Noel finished the night leading the Sixers in scoring with 24 points and nine rebounds.

MVP: Anthony Davis

It’s safe to say the Philadelphia 76ers had no answer for Anthony Davis in tonight’s game. Anthony Davis scored 34 points in the game, the 10th time he’s scored over 30 points in a game this season. He also finished with seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals. The biggest standout stat was his aggressiveness to get to the free-throw line. Davis finished the game with 20 attempted free-throws, making 16 of those. Philadelphia struggled to contain Anthony Davis for a majority of the night, partially due to the major foul troubles of big Jahlil Okafor. Anthony Davis drew three fouls on the youngster in the first quarter and forced his game to grow passive the rest of the night due to the foul situation. His aggression and fire right out of the gate changed the complexion of this game and giving the Pelicans the best chance to get a win out of the All-Star Break.

LVP: Norris Cole

Even if he didn’t have an awful game, Norris Cole finds himself on this section due to his inability to facilitate the offense effectively. Cole finished the game with 12 points and four assists. The 76ers, mainly Ish Smith, made life very difficult for Cole trying to move the ball as he finished with three turnovers in the game and four fouls committed. Norris Cole did shoot 5-8 from the field, showing some kind of rhythm shooting the ball in tonight’s contest. That being said, he’s supposed to be the point guard on a team that has no real playmakers in the starting lineup other than Anthony Davis. He just hasn’t shown the fire and spark, especially on the offensive end we saw last season and at the beginning of this season.

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X-Factor: Jrue Holiday

Jrue Holiday put up his first 20-10 game of the season with 24 points and 12 assists in tonight’s contest. More than that, he got the offense rolling in a way Cole could not and really controlled this game on both ends. Holiday also dominated the defensive side of the ball with four steals in the game. The biggest thing Jrue did for New Orleans in this contest was attack the 76ers defense in transition. The New Orleans Pelicans finished the game with 23 transition points in the game, many of those coming from Holiday getting the ball running quickly and taking advantage of numbers and a slower 76ers defensive front. New Orleans has depended on Jrue Holiday to change the energy of the team when he comes into the game off the bench. He did just that tonight.

Turning Point: Transition ball movement for the dagger

The New Orleans Pelicans found themselves ahead six points with just under two minutes to play in the game. The Sixers had just missed a layup and Jrue Holiday grabbed the defensive rebound. Just like the rest of the game, Jrue attacked the Sixers’ slower defense in transition and found Ryan Anderson up top. Anderson passed on the three-pointer, instead driving towards the paint. His movement kept the Sixers defense locked on him, letting Toney Douglas find a spot behind the arc wide open. Ryan found him and Douglas nailed the three-pointer to give the Pelicans a nine-point lead with 1:30 left in the game. That bucket was the biggest dagger of the game in the Sixers hopes of pulling the upset. Good transition basketball along with smart decisions helped set up this much needed basket.

Defining Moment: Anthony Davis and-one 180 degree dunk

In the first quarter, the Pelicans were in the midst of getting their offense running with Jrue Holiday in the game. Jrue set up the offense to get Anthony Davis a mismatch off the pick-and-roll. The play worked, and Anthony Davis found himself on a much smaller defender, while the big took Jrue. Holiday noticed, faking the dribble move and lobbing the ball up to the rim for Davis. The lob was just to the right of the basket, leaving AD with a tough angle to dunk the basketball. He grabbed the basketball and rotated his body 180 degrees to dunk the ball behind his head, netting a foul call along with it for the three-point play. The highlight reel dunk might be one of his best dunks of the entire season.

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That was……..too close.

Alvin Gentry can’t be too happy about his team barely beating the worst team record wise in the league. The Pelicans came out on fire in the first half and got way too complacent as the game progressed. This team hasn’t had the success to find their ability to “keep the feet on the pedal”. Still, after two losses already to the Lakers this season where they could’ve won the game, the worries about finishing games even against bad teams are a worrying sight…even with the win. Still, every win is huge for a team that’s dealt with adversity every step into this season.

The New Orleans Pelicans will continue to rack up wins in the final stretch of this season as they travel to Detroit for a contest against the Pistons on Sunday. Tip is scheduled for 2:30 PM CST.

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