New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for dominant win vs. Lakers

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Lakers: Grades for the forwards

It was just another night at the office for Zion Williamson.

The Pels’ all-star had his 21st consecutive game with more than 20 points. He shot 70 percent from the field and also managed to get some nice rest. Williamson played less than 30 minutes.

Williamson did a good job getting to the line, drawing ten free throw attempts. The Lakers had no match for him when he got downhill.

Watching the game, it seemed like Williamson was having a down night, but that’s just because he makes everything look absurdly easy. Maybe he didn’t get into a dominant groove, but his impact was still felt given his 27 points. That’s what the best players do.

Josh Hart always delivers and this was mostly the case against the Lakers.

Starting with what brings Hart’s grade down a bit, he had a bad shooting night. Hart only scored two points, missing eight of his nine shots. He didn’t make any threes either, bringing his season percentage to an improvable 33 percent.

However, Hart still made an impact in other ways. He had a team-high 15 rebounds, four of those offensive, and also led the Pelicans in steals. Hart stole the ball from the Lakers five times, playing with active hands and great effort.

The Villanova product also had five assists after getting six of those in his last game. Hart has been playing more at the wing recently because of Lonzo Ball’s injury. He’s done well moving the ball and keeping things simple.

Melli followed up a good performance against the Denver Nuggets with a solid outing against the Lakers.

Most of his minutes came in garbage time, but before that, I thought Melli played relatively well when he entered the game in the first quarter. The Italian big played with effort and didn’t do much wrong. Still, he played so little that I don’t feel comfortable giving him a grade.

I don’t expect Melli to be on the Pels roster next season, so watch out for the possibility of him getting traded this week just as a salary filler. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s in the NBA at all come this time next year.

Naji Marshall came in for three minutes at the end of the game and missed both of his shots.

The former Erie BayHawks player played the role of a victory cigar essentially, especially with Sindarius Thornwell’s second ten-day contract having expired. I’m assuming that Stan Van Gundy wanted to keep his main rotation players in for as long as possible to give them a confidence boost for the next few games.

Still, I want to see more of Marshall in the future. Along with Didi Louzada, he represents a decent chance for the Pels to develop a homegrown 3-and-D wing.

I’ve been a supporter of Wenyen Gabriel for a while, but two turnovers in two minutes isn’t a great look.

The South Sudanese forward checked in for garbage time and that was about it. There’s a universe out there in which Gabriel is a switchy, mobile player that can be effective on a team’s frontcourt rotation, but I don’t think it will happen for him in New Orleans.

Gabriel is on a $1.6 million contract until the end of the season with a team option for next year. He could potentially be used as trade fodder before the trade deadline.