New Orleans Pelicans: Grades for loss vs. Nets

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Nets: Grades for the guards

A better game for Lonzo Ball after two bad showings in a row.

Ball, who continues to work his way back from a hip injury, had a slow start but bounced into action after the break. The former UCLA guard had three points in the first half, but then went off for 12 points in the latter half of the game.

Ball did a lot to keep the Pelicans alive during a tough third quarter. When it seemed like New Orleans was faltering, it was Ball who sprung up with a really good few minutes of play.

During that stretch, he had: a great pass that led to a Steven Adams bucket, a three-pointer off the dribble, an aggressive full court take to the rim, a stepback two, and a pass that resulted in Naji Marshall shooting free throws.

It was good to see Ball have a good game after a catastrophic mistake in the Pels’ loss to the Knicks.

Eric Bledsoe has been in the spotlight over the last few days and he didn’t remedy the mistake he made against the Knicks with a strong performance versus the Nets.

Bledsoe was arguably the Pels’ worst player against Brooklyn. His shot was falling very early on, getting his night started with a couple of threes, but everything went downhill from there. After that, Bledsoe was ineffective on both ends of the floor. He wasn’t solid enough on defense and didn’t contribute on attack.

The Kentucky product did not feature at all in the fourth quarter, which is quite an indictment. His 17 minutes on the court are the least he has played all season.

Over his last 10 games, Bledsoe is shooting 36 percent from the field and 29 percent from three. Those numbers must improve, but the rest of the season tells us that Bledsoe is unlikely to get out of this slump—if it’s even that, at this point.

I suggested recently that Kira Lewis Jr. had possibly hit the rookie wall, but could still contribute to the Pelicans until the end of his rookie season.

That turned out to be true against the Nets, as Lewis had a really positive game. He made a trifecta of three-pointers, finished with 11 points, and dished out four assists. The Alabama draftee made a difference off the bench, pushing the tempo, getting his teammates involved, and just making poised decisions on the floor.

Lewis is a rookie, but doesn’t play like one. Of course, you can tell that it is his first season in the NBA, but he rarely gets sped up and is almost never sloppy.

This game was also good experience for Lewis. He got to be on the floor down the stretch of a close game against one of the best teams in the NBA (even if they were missing two of their three main players).