New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for 120-116 win over the Toronto Raptors
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Toronto Raptors: Player Grades for the shooting guards
Shooting Guards
A. . Shooting Guard. New Orleans Pelicans. ERIC BLEDSOE
Bledsoe is probably humming “Oh, Canada” today, as he seems to love playing against the Raptors.
He took home the game ball after having three huge defensive plays late in the game, then hitting the go-ahead 3-pointer with the shot clock running down.
Bledsoe was aggressive early, hit a couple of huge, momentum-swinging shots and ended the game with a 19 point/10 assist double-double.
When Bledsoe plays like this the Pelicans are going to be tough to beat, as he adds another layer to their offense.
D. . Shooting Guard. New Orleans Pelicans. JJ REDICK
J.J Redick finally hit a shot, though it wasn’t a 3-pointer (he was 0-3 on those).
Redick’s poor play continues to be a huge problem for the Pels, who are getting next to nothing from their bench right now.
The entire starting five scored at least 13 points apiece while the bench scored 23 total.
The bench goes as Redick goes and right now he can’t make a shot. Redick has earned our patience but right now his minutes are hurting the Pelicans.
C. . Shooting Guard. New Orleans Pelicans. JOSH HART
Hart had probably his worst game of the young season, hitting only 2-of-7 from 3-point range.
Hart isn’t alone, as the entire Pels team has been struggling from behind the arc. We’ve talked a lot about Redick and Nicolo Melli but Josh Hart is only shooting 33 percent from behind the arc on the lowest number of attempts of his career.
Hart’s offense has struggled this season, probably because he’s been given tough defensive assignments every game, often against much bigger guys.
Hart did hold his own defensively against Pascal Siakam a few times but that probably isn’t sustainable.
NICKEIL ALEXANDER-WALKER. D. . Shooting Guard. New Orleans Pelicans
Nickeil Alexander-Walker had some fans drooling after one good game against a bad OKC team.
NAW showed why he is going to struggle to get consistent playing time by following it up with a bad seven minutes that got him yanked by Stan Van Gundy.
NAW is on a short leash to be sure, but he can’t come into the game and just start chucking 3-pointers, especially if he is going to airball them.
He doesn’t provide enough on defense to make up for bad shot selection, which has been one of his biggest problems going back to last season.