New Orleans Pelicans: The Zion vs. Luka Rivalry Begins
By Tim Burke
New Orleans Pelicans: First Matchup Between Zion and Luka
What was at stake?
There are two races taking place in the Western Conference at this time. Four teams were vying for the fourth seed and home-court advantage (Houston, Utah, Oklahoma City, and Dallas), the Rockets led that group with a 39-21 record and Dallas brought up the rear at 37-25.
The other race was the same one we’ll see during the eight games before the playoffs begin in Orlando; with Memphis holding a 3.5 game lead over Sacramento, Portland, San Antonio, and the New Orleans Pelicans.
A win for either team here would bolster their push for with a better playoff matchup for Dallas or to even make the playoffs for New Orleans.
Who had the best game? Worst game?
As mentioned before a lot of players had really good games that night, choosing between all will be difficult. Jrue Holiday put up 19 points, six rebounds, six assists, and two steals while playing very good defense against Luka so deserves some recognition.
The young guns of New Orleans all had great games as well. Ingram led the Pels with 27 points, five rebounds, four assists while shooting 50% from the field (11-22), Lonzo has 25 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists to help out, and Zion had 21 points, six rebounds, and three assists; if any of them missed only one more shot the game wouldn’t have gone to overtime.
The real challenge was deciding between the Mavs’ stars. Porzings had 34 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists, he even showed that The Unicorn may finally be back to full health with five blocks. However, Luka Doncic was the real star on this night. His 30 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists gave him his 14th triple-double of this season (most in NBA) and his 22nd triple-double overall (he’s only played 126 career games).
The player who had the worst game also hit probably the biggest shot of the game (we’ll get to that shot later). Nicolo Melli played 26 minutes in the game but did not have a basket until the closing seconds, he finished the game 1-9 from the field and didn’t attempt a shot in the overtime period. Melli also had five fouls to go along with the poor shooting night.