Despite a nice late game comeback, the battered-down New Orleans Pelicans fell to the Indiana Pacers 84-92.
As I’ve said in the past, the most important thing to have as a Pelicans fan is a sense of humor.
Tonight the Pelicans trotted out a starting lineup of Toney Douglas, Alonzo Gee, Dante Cunningham, Alexis Ajinca and Omer Asik, followed by a bench lineup of Tim Frazier, Luke Babbitt, and Kendrick Perkins.
8 players, none of whom are averaging more than 7.0 points a game this season, entered the arena tonight to face Paul George and the Indiana Pacers. Like I said, it’s important to maintain a good sense of humor.
MVP: Alexis Ajinca/Miles Turner
Tonight’s game will go down in history as a symbolic passing of the torch. Experienced veteran, french diplomat, and fashion icon Alexis Ajinca put up 22 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal on 10/20 shooting in 36 minutes. Meanwhile, the bouncy rookie Miles Turner put up 24 points, 16 rebounds, an assist, and 3 blocks on 11/17 shooting in 32 minutes. These two giants battled all night, and led their respective teams as de-facto go-to-scorers while Anthony Davis, and later Paul George, were out. In all seriousness, I have wondered all season why Ajinca hasn’t been more successful under Gentry. He is by no means an athlete or a passer, but his offensive skill set and shooting ability had me convinced he could at least be Marresse Speights 2.0. Perhaps this is the start of Ajinca’s emergence as a valuable member of this roster.
LVP: Luke Babbitt
My favorite thing about Luke Babbitt is that he thinks he’s Kobe Bryant. With just about a minute left in the game, down by four, he took it upon himself to fire up a fade-away three pointer from what looked like 30 feet from the rim. Babbitt ended tonight’s game with 2 points on 1/8 shooting from the floor, and 0/3 shooting from deep. When Babbitt is incredible on offense, he can make his terrible defense somewhat worth it. When he’s 1/8 from the floor and 0/3 from deep playing like Kobe against the Raptors, he’s one of the least valuable players in the league. Luke Babbitt, you will be missed when we one day move on from you.
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X-Factor: Tim Frazier
Timmy is a straight fighter. He came off the bench tonight as the only guard on the team outside of Toney Douglas and was ready to dominate from the get-go. He ended the game with 18 points, 5 rebounds (two offensive!), and 5 assists on 7-11 shooting and 1-1 shooting from deep. One play in particular stood out to me, where he drove into the lane, realized he’s only 6’1″ and was about to be blocked, and simply ran into the opposing center to move him out of the way and create space. Maybe he’s just a no-name 10-day contract fling, but he’s got an attitude and mentality I wouldn’t mind seeing on this team come 2017.
Turning point: Luke Babbitt’s Kobe shot
Toney Douglas hit a wild three pointer that put the Pelicans within four, and all of a sudden we had a game on our hands. There was a minute left, and with a bit of luck and a few shakes of Pierre’s feathers we might have been able to close the gap. Then Luke Babbitt stepped up, all the ladies in the audience began to feel fain. He bricked a 30 foot fade-away three like I mentioned before, and the audience let out a collective groan. In reality, losses are better for the team than wins, so in a way Luke Babbitt saved the day. Even if you renounce the idea of tanking and still want to root for wins, at least acknowledge the comedic effect he has on the average viewer.
Next: The Pelicans give up on the 2015-16 Regular Season
That was…statistically likely:
Get used to this. The Pelicans will likely keep it fairly close in all their remaining games before losing by 8-10 points. They will hustle and dive for loose balls, before missing easy open shots and transition lay-ups. We’re in for a month of good vibes and bad results, which might not be the worst thing in the world. When it starts to look dark, just keep googling highlight videos of Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram. You’ll feel better very quickly.