New Orleans Pelicans: The Return Of Anthony Davis

New Orleans Pelicans: The Return of Anthony Davis

What did we learn?

We learned this team doesn’t back down from a big game. The home crowd was going all game and the Pelicans played like this game really mattered. All New Orleans fans would have liked the result to be different but it’s hard to complain about the team losing a close game when they were without key contributors.

This Pelicans team is one of the more deadly three-point shooting teams in the NBA and because of that, they can put together a run quickly. If they can get the defense right late in the game, they’ll be in a position to make the playoffs for the foreseeable future and hopefully make a run at a title.

How did we feel about the team after?

Even though it was a loss against Anthony Davis in his first game back in New Orleans, I think we felt pretty good about the team. Jrue Holiday and Brandon Ingram stepped up to the challenge and provided the necessary push to put the team up big into the fourth quarter.

They eventually blew the lead and lost the game but with Lonzo and Favors the defense would have been much more sound and the Pelicans should’ve held on to win.

Notes

• The Lakers would drop the two guards not involved in free throws back to their defensive half, not sure if more teams do this but it seems like a smart way to at least limit fast breaks.
• The Lakers had Rondo, Davis, and Boogie Cousins on the roster when the season started, three players who played key roles for the 2017-18 Pelicans (unfortunately Boogie tore his Achilles that season and has mostly been injured since).

• The Lakers’ announcer gave Josh Hart the nickname “Josh Barkley” because like Charles he plays much bigger than his size.
• Alex Caruso despite his meager stat line was +23 in this game. His defense is criminally underrated and he’ll stick around in the NBA for a long time because of it.
• Brandon Ingram at this point was one of three players in the league to average 25+ points and 50 FG% (Giannis Antetokounmpo and Karl-Anthony Towns were the others).
• There were two guys sitting courtside wearing high school jerseys (LeBron and Kobe), I don’t get wearing a high school jersey, just seems weird to me.
• I miss playoff Rondo.