Tied at 60 with just over one minute remaining in the game, Austin Rivers drove left and scored on a beautiful layup to break the tie. After a Cleveland miss, Rivers attacked again (see above) and put the Pelicans up four with under a minute to go. After a Cleveland bucket, Brian Roberts drained a jumper to ice the game as the Pelicans finished the Summer League regular season with a 66-62 win and a 2-1 record.
Roberts and Rivers struggled mightily throughout the game, but combined for the final six points down the stretch, while last year’s 4th overall pick Dion Waiters went 0-3 in that same stretch. Lance Thomas kept the Pelicans in the game, going 5-5 in the first half, and Jeff Withey provided quite a defensive presence as well. Darius Miller was quiet for most of the afternoon, but he hit a big three pointer in the 4th and Pierre Jackson had flashes as well. Overall, it was a much crisper game than we saw last night, save for the third quarter. But does a poor third quarter really surprise anybody at this point?
Notes and Observations
– Hard not to fall in love with Jon Brockman. Number 1 question I have gotten since Friday is whether or not I think he will make our roster. To the dismay of many, my answer is no. It is one thing to get hustle points in Summer League, but the NBA is about skill, and Brockman’s skill level is low. I don’t see a position he can guard in the NBA and there is no offense to speak of whatsoever. If you like Brockman, enjoy these final few games with him as a Pelican.
– Dion Waiters is everything Chad Ford said Austin Rivers would be. He is a me-first player in every sense. He spends the entire offensive possession with his hands in the air, calling for the ball. If he doesn’t get it, he pouts for the next ten seconds, even if his team makes a bucket. During timeouts, he pulls the other guards aside and lets them know he is open”every time” (in his own words). The kid has talent, but he is the exact player Monty and Dell tend to avoid. I doubt he would have been the pick even if he would have lasted until #10.
– Rivers almost never tries to split the two defenders coming off the pick. I think that limits his options quite a bit. He either goes around them wide or picks up his dribble. If he can get his dribble lower and occassionally split that, it will make the big hedge harder and it will be easier to get around him.
– Withey is fantastic on defense around the basket, but he really gets in trouble when the big pulls him out of the paint. That limites how much you can play him. Makes it impossible to play him at the end of games. On the plus side, his face up jumper is ahead of schedule. He can knock that down on a fairly regular basis right now.
– Pierre Jackson is the shortest guy on the court, but he always finds a way to stand out. Some terrific plays mixed with some terrible ones. Very little in between.
26 responses to “New Orleans Pelicans Surge Late to Defeat Cavs (Plus: Eric Gordon Interview)”
DO THE PELICANS ALREADY INTERVIEWED GREG ODEN?
mojart ….just…grammer..ugh
Dillion77 you mean grammar?
English isn’t the first language of everyone on this site… “Grammer Police.” BTW, are you referring to Kelsey Grammer?
Good. Gordon seems much more interested in actually playing now, hopefully he can be the star he should be!
-Side Note, may not mean any relevance, but on MyCareer in 2K13, Gordon is rated the #1 Shooting Guard in the league in 2015! haha, that’d be nice to have for the next couple of years in real life!!
Doesn’t hurt to dream lol. If healthy he is a real good player.
But does a poor third quarter really surprise anybody at this point?
“Why am I not surprised?” is exactly what I thought when reading the preceding sentence… 🙁
Very little in between.
Wasn’t that Austin Rivers last year?
Background noise almost completely drowned out the EG interview. Are there “directional microphone attachments” for smart phones?
Rivers is putting up double digit performances. This year he should continue to improve. I want to see a stat line of 13, 5,& 5. I would be impressed with that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCB1wqyECbY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Its big for EGo to fly in and support. It would be way cool for the other teammates to start flocking in (pun intended) so show solidarity and build chemistry.
yaboytonez thanks for the video link, but I continue to struggle with why blocks are so “valuable”. Both of those blocks appeared to wind up back in the hands of the Cavs. What’s the big deal? It’s akin to a kicked ball. I’d much rather have Tyson Chandler doing his patented “volleyball tip back to the top of the key” which is about 4 times more valuable than a block.
Roger.That. yaboytonez alot of witheys defensive plays today led to shot clock violations or forced shots at the end of the shot clock. just because we didnt retain the ball after the block doesnt make it a bad play. Its nowhere near a kicked ball because that resets the shot clock back to 14
Roger.That. yaboytonez after a couple of shots every player in the other team want to avoid blocks, so they change their shots for Jumpers floaters stuff like that, that´s the real value of blocks in a entire game
Well our primary backup guards struggled a bit, but obviously didn’t hang their heads and both came thru when the game was on the line. Got to like that! Check out Withey’s two blocks in the video…the second one looks just like a volleyball spike! Ole hustling Lance get the double-double and 5-5 from the field…another dude that may not be blessed with exceptional talent, but you can’t teach never giving up…you’ve either got it or you don’t and he’s got a heaping dose of it! Gonna get a good seed for the final tournament…hoping for continued improvement from the youngsters and a strong finish!
I really like Pierre Jackson he didn’t that well today but that kid has heart whenever he is on the court he’s the smallest one but makes up for it by going hard all the time.
AngryCookies some passes were brilliant, good pressure too, but TO at the top of the key are death, he can´t risk the ball in that zone
Oh, Eric Gordon – you big ball of personality and warm fuzzies, you! We fall in love with you all over again every time we hear another of your heartfelt interviews.
Did Jordan have the most likable personality? Iverson? Kobe? Barkley? Garnett? He’s not an analyst so who cares about his personality(besides you)? Respect his game and pray for his health. Let Davis Jrue Evans Ryno JSmitty Rivers n crew be the judge of his personality all you gotta do is clap when he scores.
PelaSaintiac Dude Jordan and Kobe are both very charming when they want to be. Eric Gordon is a straight up miserable person.
In both the Eric Gordon interview here and the one he did in the game he made it a point to talk about a faster pace. Hopefully this is coming from Monty and not just speculation by EG because of the moves because we would be so dangerous with a fast pace
Does anyone know if there is a way to buy the Summer League jerseys?
Really happy with the way the team is playing hard. Austin and Darius will play well for giving us a much better bench. I can’t wait for the season to start i’m super EXCITED!!!! just wish some kind of way could resign Lance Thomas he plays really hard. #ByrdGang
ljoseph242001 I think he’s already been re-signed.
Why are Roberts and Thomas playing? We know what they’re about.
Also, Gordon said something to the effect: “as long as we [the offense] run and gun, we’ll do well.”Is that something monty plans to do? Or will we see the same boring, grind-it-out offense/defense?
Why are Roberts and Thomas playing? We know what they’re about.
Also, Gordon said something to the effect: “as long as we [the offense] run and gun, we’ll do well.”
Is that something monty plans to do? Or will we see the same boring, grind-it-out offense/defense?
Finally, what’s with the comment system? I have to have two logins for the site now?
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