The New Orleans Pelicans might be back in the play-in tournament picture after a revenge win against the Golden State Warriors.
It’s a tough ask, but New Orleans’ 103-108 victory over Golden State at the very least gives Stan Van Gundy’s squad something to play for until the end of the regular season. It was a magnificent performance from the Pels, who bounced back in a big way after getting trounced by the Stephen Curry-led Warriors the night before.
Tuesday night’s game was a close affair all the way until the end. The potential for a tasking overtime on the second night of a back-to-back was daunting, but the Pelicans pulled through in the final stretch.
It is worth mentioning that this was without Steven Adams and Brandon Ingram. Both went back to the locker room after sustaining injuries and their status will need to be monitored for New Orleans’ upcoming road trip. Zion Williamson also appeared to suffer a hand injury, but he
came back and closed the game strong.
Now, the Pelicans are only two games behind the 10th-placed San Antonio Spurs. The rest of the schedule is very tough, but if there’s one team that can provide surprises, it is this Pels team.
Here are the player grades for the Pels’ win against the Warriors, starting with my personal MVP:
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Golden State Warriors: Grading the best player
One man dominated the conversation around the Pelicans before and after this game: Lonzo Ball.
Prior to tip-off, his detractors were quick to point out an awful 3-of-18 shooting night. It was a bad performance off the back of a 33-point outing and Ball knew as much. He texted Zion Williamson after his disappointing showing and promised he would bounce back.
And what a revenge game this was. Ball was on fire all night long, once again tying his career-high of 33 points and leading the Pelicans to a crucial win. He made seven of his 13 threes.
The UCLA product came up with some absolutely huge plays down the stretch. Ball tied the game twice with a pair of vital threes and then hit what should really be considered the game-winning shot. It was a beautiful stepback two after a behind-the-back that delicately swished through the net.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ball then clinched the victory for the Pelicans by making all four of his free throws when the Warriors put him on the line. He is now shooting 80 percent from the charity stripe, still on low volume but a massive percentage improvement to his 57 percent last season.
The Pelicans must do everything possible to retain Ball’s services past this offseason.
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Warriors: Grades for the guards
Eric Bledsoe played well on both ends of the floor.
Offensively, Bledsoe mostly picked his spots well and didn’t force anything. He’s seen an uptick on attack over the last few weeks, averaging 14 points in his previous five games despite not shooting the ball well from the outside.
But it was on defense where I thought Bledsoe was even better. His impact is not reflected on the box score, but Bledsoe did a very good job in the second half against Stephen Curry. The former Bucks guard was tenacious in his pursuit of Curry and, even though there were a few times where he couldn’t stop arguably the best scorer in basketball, he essentially silenced him late on.
Bledsoe has been a nice surprise to end the regular season. There was a long stretch of the season where he didn’t fit in at all and I dreaded watching him play, but he deserves credit for turning things around.
Kira Lewis Jr. once again barely got seven minutes of play against the Warriors.
I was curious about whether Lewis would get a longer leash after almost not seeing the court at all on Monday night, but this was not the case. To be honest, it was deserved.
The Pels’ rookie was largely bad against Golden State. He missed all five of his shots and didn’t deliver a single assist. The good news is that most of the shots Lewis took were good looks, but he just failed to convert. As I’ve been writing, I reckon that Lewis has hit his rookie wall.
Defensively, I thought that the Alabama product really struggled. Jordan Poole didn’t have a great shooting night by any means, but he was whatever he wanted against Lewis.
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Warriors: Grades for the wings
Another rare off-night for Brandon Ingram, who has now gone three consecutive games without having his typical impact.
Much like in his first outing against Golden State, I didn’t think that the New Orleans Pelicans wing was bad. He just wasn’t as good as he’s been all season and, when your team almost always needs you to be at your best, that difference is very noticeable.
Ingram had a better time from the three-point line than inside the arc, making a trifecta of triples. His usual midrange jumpers weren’t falling and, again, Andrew Wiggins deserves plaudits. He made Ingram work hard to get to his spots.
In terms of playmaking, I thought this was mostly a good game from Ingram. He didn’t make any spectacular reads, but he pushed the ball with good pace and generally found the open man. Ingram ended the game with five assists and zero turnovers.
Now, let’s see what his status for the upcoming road trip looks like. Ingram headed back to the locker room after spraining his ankle and didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter.
Naji Marshall was really good for the second straight night against the Warriors.
I love how the former Xavier man always looks to attack the rim with aggression. This puts so much pressure on opposing defenses. Marshall is then either strong enough to draw free throws or finish, as well as smart enough to make the right pass.
Marshall was one of the few Pelicans players looking to punish the Warriors on every trip down the court. This is something the Pels always need, but especially with Brandon Ingram out.
He finished with ten points, seven rebounds, two assists, and one steal. A complete performance for New Orleans’ do-it-all role player.
After the Pelicans’ loss on Monday to the Warriors, I wrote that James Johnson “mostly did what he was supposed to do but just failed to put the ball in the hoop.”
That is, he had the right ideas in mind but finished 3-of-10 from the field. He could have probably taken less shots, sure, but he also should have made more of them. In Tuesday’s rematch, Johnson once again executed correctly and had better luck finishing this time around.
Johnson ended with six points, adding value with his drives to the rim that often combine scoring with playmaking. He was also solid on defense and was an important presence on the floor to close out the win.
One thing to watch: his three-point shooting. Johnson’s ability to stretch the floor has been inconsistent throughout his long NBA career and we’re once again seeing that. He has made just three of his last 25 threes.
To my surprise, James Nunnally got a little bit of run against the Warriors.
Nunnally was preferred over Wenyen Gabriel, who has played more as of late, and Wes Iwundu on the wing. The international basketball journeyman was signed to a two-way contract to provide the Pelicans with some three-point shooting, but he failed to do so versus Golden State.
Nunnally missed both of his three-pointers, with one of them hitting the side of the backboard. He did have two decent assists, though.
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Warriors: Grades for the bigs
Zion Williamson had a good night, but what’s even better is that he did not have to carry the New Orleans Pelicans to this win.
Williamson started off slow and didn’t actually make his first field goal until the second quarter. That is unlike him, but things quickly picked up from there. It wasn’t a typical dominant performance from the Pels’ all-star, but still enough for 23 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals.
So why the A- grade instead of a solid A?
Part of it is his rough start, but this is also because Draymond Green did an exemplary defensive job on Williamson. Green made him work for everything and played some of the best defense I’ve seen against Williamson all year.
New Orleans’ franchise player also had six turnovers, which sort of nullifies his seven assists. He didn’t take as good care of the ball as he can.
However, Williamson also had some really important plays in the clutch—even if he wasn’t scoring on them. In particular, two huge defensive rebounds that helped the Pels seal the game stand out.
After Monday’s game, I wrote that Jaxson Hayes’ stats then were misleading and that he actually had a pretty rough game.
This was not the case on Tuesday. Hayes got plenty of minutes after Steven Adams went to the locker room and he played very well.
There were still times where questions could be asked about Hayes’ defensive positioning, but I thought he was much better asserting himself on that end of the floor. Offensively, he was also steady with eight points in the paint and a pair of offensive rebounds.
Steven Adams returned to the Pelicans’ starting lineup after a few games out with a toe injury.
However, you could tell that Adams wasn’t at 100 percent. He was moving around the floor gingerly, didn’t really alter too many things at the rim, and didn’t dominate the glass. Still, the Pels were five points better with Adams on the court. He remains the team’s best defensive anchor and his screening helps space out the offense.
The Kiwi center checked out of the game for good in the third quarter after a huge play in which he sacrificed his own well-being to secure the ball for the Pels. He deserves huge credit for that, but now we’ll have to once again wait to see if Adams will miss any games.