New Orleans Pelicans Grades: Pelicans collapse in Washington
By Nathan Heck
The New Orleans Pelicans could not extend their winning streak to three in a row as John Wall led the Washington Wizards to a dominant win over the floundering Pelicans.
The New Orleans Pelicans and Anthony Davis thoroughly disappointed in Washington by falling to the Wizards 109-89. Following his truly dominant performance on Sunday in Detroit, Anthony Davis managed to score just nine points against the Wizards as Washington focused all of their efforts on limiting the talented power forward. The rest of the roster was not able to pick up the slack, and the Wizards pulled away in the second half.
The Pelicans don’t have much to look forward to after this collapse, either. Hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, the Pelicans will face an even tougher task. With the injuries continuing to mount and the hole getting deeper and deeper, all hope for the playoffs has been extinguished at this point.
Other observations:
- The Pelicans are done, at this point. There should no longer be any dreams of making a run at the eighth seed.
- Playing three on five offense has been a thorn in the Pelicans’ side all season, and this game typified the situation. Anthony Davis had three defenders on him on multiple occasions, and the Pelicans were not able to make the Wizards pay for bringing that much pressure on Davis.
- The Omer Asik injury hurts more than many fans realize. As much as Asik has struggled this season, he is light years ahead of Kendrick Perkins, who seems to be absorbing most of his minutes.