The New Orleans Pelicans lost on Monday night to the Indiana Pacers to fall to 16-26. Here are the four most important takeaways from the game.
Losses are common at this point; just keep trucking. In a Western Conference with a weak bottom half, the New Orleans Pelicans are right in the middle of things, and still within shouting distance of a .500 record. Besides, tonight wasn’t all bad.
1. The Pelicans made their first-half 3-pointers!
I talk often on the site about how sometimes NBA regular season games can be as simple as overcoming trends or capitalizing on opportunity. Generally, I’m referring to things like health or playing style– areas the Pelicans have historically (at least in this era) been at a disadvantage. However, during this particular season, perhaps their greatest disadvantage has been shooting.
The Pelicans are not a great shooting team (19th in the league in 3-point percentage), so it came as a shock when they used those shots to get themselves back in this game after going down 15 in the first quarter. Langston Galloway and Dante Cunningham combined to electrocute the weak-side corner in the second quarter, and the Pacers’ lead leaked to nothingness.
The success that the end-of-half unit found was even enough for Alvin Gentry to let them ride out the quarter; Tim Frazier running the pick-and-roll with Anthony Davis with shooters (Cunningham, Galloway, and E’Twaun Moore) ready for a ping their way when it opened up.
Also: Galloway currently earning end of half minutes over Hield. Buddy sitting at 8:30 of playing time heading into the half.
— Brendon Kleen (@BrendonKleen14) January 16, 2017
When you make wacky shots in the face of 7-foot defenders, you get to play more. That’s been the case particularly for Galloway this season, and so it’s not necessarily a surprise that his hot shooting was the primary catalyst for the comeback.
What is surprising is that an offense that has fallen to 27th in efficiency managed to make things close again at all; the Pelicans are not built to overcome deep holes. Credit Gentry for tinkering with lineups until he found one that worked, and stuck with it. Bonus for the way it allowed most of the starters to rest on the last game of a 10-day road trip.