Grades: New Orleans Pelicans out-lose New York Knicks

Final. 91. 27. 99. 69

A+. Jrue was fantastic tonight. 99% of this game was watching terrible players on the Pelicans miss shots, followed by watching terrible players on the Knicks miss shots. The other 1% was Jrue Holiday driving into the paint. He dropped 22 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals on 9/19 shooting from the floor and 2/5 shooting from deep. Sadly, he left the end of the game with a bleeding face injury in the final minutes. The good guys never win I guess.. PG. New Orleans Pelicans. JRUE HOLIDAY

B+. Luke Babbitt was on a mission tonight. He dropped 14 points on 4/6 shooting from the floor and 2/3 shooting from deep, in addition to getting to the line twice and hitting 4/4 of his free throws. Interestingly enough, Babbitt did most of his damage off the dribble, rather than from the corner. He seems to have a fairly solid handle, and he burns guys who think his only value on the court is his shooting ability. His defense is still terrible, but at least he hits a running floater every now and then to keep things interesting.. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. LUKE BABBITT

C. Dante was remarkably average tonight. He dropped 12 points (in 40 minutes!) on 3/7 shooting from the floor, while grabbing three rebounds and dishing out two assists. Still, he gives this team more on defense than most of the other guys, and you’ve got to give him credit for keeping up the hustle despite the fact that Gentry rarely ever gives him a break. Was he the ultimate Carmelo stopper tonight? No, but he was pretty darn close and he tried his best.. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. DANTE CUNNINGHAM

New Orleans Pelicans. ALEXIS AJINCA. C+. Ajinca left something to be desired tonight. He dropped just 12 points in 26 minutes on 4/11 shooting and he grabbed a wimpy 6 rebounds to go along with it. In reality, former New Orleans center Robin Lopez mopped the floor with him (and the rest of our centers), dropping 17 points on 8/12 shooting. For whatever reason, I still think Ajinca has untapped potential with this team, though tonight wasn’t a great example.. PF

?. Asik played 7 minutes tonight, scored 2 points, and grabbed 3 rebounds. Kendrick Perkins played three times more minutes than him, so I don’t see how I could fairly give him a grade with so little evidence to base it off.. C. New Orleans Pelicans. OMER ASIK

A-. The stats aren’t great, but for some reason I am really enjoying Toney Douglas this season. Tonight he dropped 16 points in 24 minutes, grabbed 5 boards and dished out 2 assists. His shooting isn’t great (4/10), but he had the highest +/- stat for anyone on the Pelicans roster tonight at +22. Douglas is doing something right, I’m just not sure what that “something” is. The advanced stats say he’s still just a garbage third stringer, but something about his hustle and drive keep translating into positive runs for this battered down team.. PG. New Orleans Pelicans. TONEY DOUGLAS

B+. Gee started out the game with a high level on energy and an increased level of offensive awareness. In the first half, he dropped 9 points on 4/8 shooting, grabbed 2 rebounds, dished out an assist, and grabbed 2 steals. He did get dunked on by Kristaps Porzingus so hard I thought he was going to retire from the team, but sources confirm he will eventually recover. Most of his points come in transition or off backdoor cuts, but even those require energy and hustle. He left halfway through the game with an injury, but should return soon.. SG, SF. New Orleans Pelicans. ALONZO GEE

JORDAN HAMILTON. D+. Not a big fan of Jordan Hamilton so far. In 18 minutes tonight he dropped just 5 points on 2/5 shooting, and did it with a lazy grumpy attitude. He seems to be the guy who always complains to the refs, and is always just a little late to get back on defense. With Dante Cunningham playing 40 minutes a game on the wings, you would think he’d be jumping at the opportunity to earn minutes. To me, he seems indifferent.. SF. New Orleans Pelicans

New Orleans Pelicans. KENDRICK PERKINS. C-. When Kendrick Perkins signed with this team, he expected an average of something like 4 minutes a game and little to no actual responsibilities. Tonight he played 21 minutes (three times what a healthy Omer Asik played), and was expected to be the team’s primary rim protector. He did grab 8 rebounds in his time spent on the floor, but he also got outrun and out executed by literally everyone on the floor. If I’m Omer Asik right now, I’m not sure if I leave this game angry or simply confused.. C

F. 1/7 from the floor, -2 overall. Not the best from Timmy Frazier.. PG. New Orleans Pelicans. TIM FRAZIER