New Orleans Pelicans: Player Grades in 120-107 Win Over Timberwolves

Holiday narrowly missed his second triple-double in a week and the New Orleans Pelicans kept their playoff hopes alive with a win over Minnesota.

Jrue Holiday was not about to let the New Orleans Pelicans lose twice to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a week. He posted a monster game on Sunday afternoon and the Pelicans were able to hold off the pesky Timberwolves 120-107.

This was a big win for the New Orleans Pelicans, who were able to pick up ground on idle Memphis and find themselves just four games out of the eight spot with 18 to play.

The Pelicans also picked up a game on the San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings, who both lost on Sunday. The Pelicans are now in a tie with the Kings for the ninth spot but the rest of their road trip is brutal.

After a few much-needed off days, the New Orleans Pelicans will head to Sacramento to face the Kings on Wednesday before a tough back-to-back against the Jazz and the Clippers on Friday and Saturday.

A strange wrinkle could be added to these games, as the NBA told teams to prepare to play games in empty arenas in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

It’s going to be a wild finish, but the New Orleans Pelicans were able to stay in the hunt with a big win over Minnesota.

Here are the player grades for the Pelicans’ win over the Timberwolves.

Point Guards

Lonzo Ball was strong again, leading the team through his hustle and defense and hitting some timely shots. Ball is playing his best basketball of the season and filled out another scorecard, notching 18 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

However, Ball’s disturbing trend of turning the ball over too much continued, as he coughed it up seven times.

Ball vacillates between the spectacular and the spectacularly foolish, often throwing a one-handed no look pass when a bog standard chest pass would do. Ball is one of the best passers in the NBA and can do things like this:

https://twitter.com/PelicansNBA/status/1236781748010311682

But he also throws at least one or two passes a game that he shouldn’t.

Gentry certainly doesn’t want to put too many restraints on Ball, as he is a borderline genius with the ball and can do things that other players can’t.

Lonzo has to be better at choosing his spots to be spectacular and cut out the mental lapses that lead to unnecessary turnovers.

Jrue Holiday likes playing against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

After posting a triple-double against them less than a week ago, Holiday slapped a season-high 37 points on the Timberwolves on Sunday and added nine rebounds, eight assists and only one turnover.

Holiday has been the most consistent player for the New Orleans Pelicans down the stretch, and seems to know when the team needs him to score or facilitate.

Holiday was an efficient 13 of 20 from the field and added another eight free throws in nine attempts.

He also played much stronger defense against the Minnesota guards, which was one of the keys to victory for the Pelicans. Holiday is the calming veteran presence that the New Orleans Pelicans need in the absence of sharpshooter J.J. Redick.

Josh Hart‘s birthday magic was short-lived.

After dropping 19 points and 12 rebounds on the Heat on his birthday, Hart’s struggles continued against the Timberwolves.

Hart is mired in his worst stretch of the season. If you take out his birthday game against the Heat, Hart is just 6 of 37 from 3-point range over his last six games for a miserable 16.2 percent.

To his credit, Hart hasn’t allowed his shooting woes to affect his rebounding or defense, as he still grabbed five boards and had two steals.

But Hart was also 0 for 8 from the field for one point. He is the emotional leader of the New Orleans Pelicans, so they need him out there.

Hart is the team’s best rebounder, a versatile defender and often injects life into the second unit, but if he continues to struggle the Pelicans are going to have a hard time winning games, as their bench has been ice-cold.

The lack of bench scoring has put additional pressure on rookie Zion Williamson and All-Star forward Brandon Ingram, both of whom have had to carry an extra load in the absence of the bench.

Hart needs to find his shot and he needs to find it fast.

Zion is so good that we are starting to forget that he is just 19 years old.

He posted another 23 points and seven rebounds on 9 of 15 shooting, even hitting his only 3-pointer of the game. Of course, it would be impossible to talk about the rookie without throwing in one of his signature dunks, and this one nearly brought down the structure.

Efficient 20 point games are the norm for Zion already in his career and it’s not hard to be efficient when you get so many dunks.

Zion slammed the ball four times in the first seven minutes of the game, thrilling the sellout crowd in Minnesota.

Zion hasn’t seemed to be bothered by playing additional minutes and is now getting about 32 per game, something to keep an eye on down the stretch as the rookie gets into uncharted waters in games and minutes.

After a strong first half, Ingram went cold and finished the game with just 15 points on 6 of 12 shooting, including going 0 of 2 from behind the arc.

Ingram narrowly missed a triple-double of his own, adding 12 rebounds and seven assists in a strong overall effort.

Ingram did turn the ball over five times, but also played 40 minutes of gritty basketball, giving the New Orleans Pelicans what they needed at the time.

Ingram’s shot has not been falling as much in the last few games, but he has shown he has the heart of a scorer, as he just keeps taking them until they start to fall.

Ingram is heading towards a max deal and with a strong end to the season may find himself on the All-NBA team.

Nicolo Melli hasn’t been able to find his 3-point stroke since he went off against Golden State.

Since going 6 of 7 against the Warriors, Melli has shot just 21.9 percent from 3-point range. Both Melli and Hart have been key contributors off the bench, but lately they’ve given the New Orleans Pelicans next to nothing offensively.

Melli did add a steal, a block, three assists and four rebounds, but shot just 1 of 4 from behind the arc, which is his primary job.

If Melli and Hart continue to struggle, expect the Pelicans to ride the hot hand until they find someone who can consistently get buckets off the bench.

Derrick Favors did what Favors normally does.

He grabbed nine rebounds, added nine points and did a decent job of protecting the rim with two blocks in his 22 minutes of play.

Favors really just sets the tone for the Pelicans. He’s a grown adult in the lane and gives the Pelicans some much-needed toughness and rebounding.

But Favors is proving himself to be matchup-dependent, as he has a hard time switching on the pick-and-roll at times and usually can’t play big minutes due to foul trouble. Favors is what he is and gives the Pelicans what they need in limited minutes.

With just 18 games to go the Pelicans could not afford to drop another to Minnesota and they stepped up and got the win. With three tough road games upcoming, the New Orleans Pelicans will have to dig in if they want to catch Memphis for the final playoff spot.