New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for 118-116 OT loss to the Pacers

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Indiana Pacers: Player Grades for the shooting guards

Shooting Guards

Eric Bledsoe is another guy whose stats don’t tell the whole story.  He did have another double-double, with 12 points and 11 rebounds, but the Oladipo and Malcolm Brogdon duo killed the Pelicans all night with little resistance.

The team defense as a whole was much worse in the second half, but the Pacers guards in particular carried the team down the stretch for the decisive run when the Pels suddenly couldn’t get a stop.

J.J Redick was 1-of-9 and it was his slip at the end of the game that started the whole miserable sequence that ended with a game-tying 3-pointer.

I hate to say it, but right now Redick’s minutes are hurting the Pelicans, who have gotten next to zilch from their bench this season.

I don’t put this one all on Hart. He was given some tough defensive assignments when the Pels went small in the second quarter.

His defense was solid for most of the night but with Redick unable to score, someone else on this bench has to step up and it needs to be Josh Hart, who has not shot the ball well this season.

He was just 1-of-5 for three points, added no assists and missed a couple of wide-open 3-pointers. At some point someone has to step up and make those because the bench minutes are costing the Pelicans games.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker once again came into the game firing and he did hit two 3-pointers, but he also took three bad shots in traffic before getting benched quickly and then re-inserted briefly in the second half.

He continues to be inconsistent and have poor shot selection, though at this point the Pelicans don’t have many other options so he’ll probably keep getting minutes.