Last night at home, the New Orleans Pelicans played their most complete game of the season and beat the Indiana Pacers by seven.
Last night, the New Orleans Pelicans followed up their heartbreaking defeat by the Golden State Warriors with a home game against the Indiana Pacers, a team they have not beaten in quite some time. In fact, the last time the Pelicans beat the Indiana Pacers they weren’t even the Pelicans.
Tonight's win snaps a 10-game losing streak against Indiana. The last win prior was 4/3/11.
— Pelicans PR (@PelicansPR) December 16, 2016
Breaking the losing mindset was not easy though. New Orleans jumped out to a 19-12 lead early with the help of hot shooting and some Jrue Holiday excellence. Holiday finished the quarter with a stat-line of 6 points and 4 assist.
In the second quarter the Pacers bounced back excellently. New Orleans shooting would come down to earth and the Pacers took advantage to win the quarter 30-22. That gave the Pacers a 50-46 lead at the half.
The third quarter of the game belonged to Buddy Hield. He had his best individual quarter of the season, going for 14 points. He also knocked down three triples to help New Orleans keep pace with Indiana. This then allowed for the Anthony Davis fourth quarter takeover. Davis would score 10 points in the final 3 minutes to help the Pelicans close out the Pacers.
Grades for each player from last night’s victory:
Here’s a closer look at that game-changing three:
The Pelicans run a rub with Hield, and the Pacers respond by blitzing the ensuing Davis/Holiday pick-and-roll. This leads to a HUGE game-tying three from Hield.
The beginning of Anthony Davis’s three-minute reign of terror: A huge block on Teague before getting the and-one dunk to give the New Orleans Pelicans a lead they would not relinquish.
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