New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for overtime loss vs. Wizards

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Wizards: Grades for the guards

Lonzo Ball returned to the New Orleans Pelicans’ starting lineup after four games out due to injury and endured a horrid game.

Ball’s playing time has been intermittent since the end of March because of two hip injuries, so he’s been unable to get into a true rhythm. This was evident against the Wizards, as Ball missed all seven of his threes and was benched in favor of Naji Marshall for most of the game.

It was an awful showing from Ball, who has been New Orleans’ third-best player this season, but I wouldn’t be too worried. Like I wrote, it’s tough for him to get into any type of flow when he’s hampered by his hip and unable to play on a consistent basis.

The only reason Ball’s grade isn’t lower is because he had some nice moments on defense and with his passing.

Eric Bledsoe’s uptick in play towards the end of March and beginning of April appears to have been a mirage.

The former Bucks guard has scored single digits in four of his last five games, with this one being no different. Bledsoe only had eight points and missed both of his attempted triples. He’s down to 27 percent shooting from beyond the perimeter this month.

But even though Bledsoe wasn’t putting the ball in the basket, I thought he didn’t play too badly as a whole. His impact wasn’t felt on the stat sheet, but the Pels were probably better with Bledsoe on the court against the Wizards—particularly on defense.

Kira Lewis Jr. is going through a bit of a slump after returning from injury, which is perfectly normal on two ends.

The first is obviously that he is coming back from a period of inactivity, while the second is maybe that he’s just hit that rookie wall. Hopefully I’m wrong, but this was Lewis’ 38th game of the season. He never played more than 34 games during his two college seasons at Alabama, which perfectly coincides with Lewis’ waning form.

Since his 34th game this season, Lewis is scoring 5 points per game on 18 percent shooting from three and 31 percent from the field. Those are really bad numbers, but I wouldn’t be too preoccupied.

We have already seen flashes of what Lewis can be during his rookie season. Even if the rest of it is poor—and I think Lewis will still have some big games—he has shown enough for Pels fans to feel good about his future.