Pelicans stomp Grizzlies, coast to win

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Published: November 6, 2013

Just to make us all scratch our heads, the Pelicans stormed out of the gate against the Grizzlies, showing no tiredness from playing the night before.  They proceeded to smother Zach Randolph when he was on the court, force turnovers (they are one of the best five teams in the league at this!) and dominate the glass in a blowout win.

The Grizz, for their part, avoided taking advantage of one of the Pelicans greatest weaknesses – shooting – and only Mike Conley had anything going at all  until Monty went Cobra Kai and told Anthony Morrow to take him out.

Okay, Monty didn’t do that, but Conley was injured by Morrow in the fourth, and that ended any hope of a rally.  Bayless couldn’t get anything going and Michael McNamara’s hero, Nick Calathes, managed four turnovers in ten minutes, matching his 2 points and 2 assists.

Observations:

  • Eric Gordon’s explosiveness is in full effect, and he didn’t seem to have too much trouble getting past the tough perimeter defense the Grizzlies usually put on the court.  It is so nice to have a dependable scorer.  Tonight Gordon got the most minutes he’s received this season, posting 19 pointson 14 shots in 34 minutes.
  • The Pelicans forced 18 turnovers.  The best part about it is how many people are getting into the steals game and converting them into points.  Davis, Holiday, Gordon and Aminu all have tremendous length for their positions – or fast hands – or both.  Outside of Chris Paul, can any of you remember having wing players able to wreak havoc in the passing lanes?  You’ll have to go back to Eddie Jones, my friends.  That was a long time ago.
  • The Pelicans shot 4-13 from deep in this game.  I can’t believe they aren’t keeping up the 50%+ shooting they’ve posted so far.  C’mon Monty!
  • When Tyreke Evans is having a multi-faceted impact on the game, this team tends to play well.  Tonight he put up a 16-7-4 and his first better than 50% shooting night.
  • Anthony Davis went for an 18-9-2-3-3 line.  I have a feeling Michael’s hope of having a player lead his team in FG%, Pts, Reb, Blocks and Steals isn’t going to happen this year.  Davis takes a lot of mid-range jump shots and he’s not very good at them.  Of course, I’m fully on board with him leading the rest of the categories – and Davis missing those jumpers isn’t crippling – he attacks the basket so willingly he draws gobs of free throws and is still an efficient scorer.
  • Good to see Quincy Pondexter.  I was rooting for him to succeed.  Though I won’t lie, I enjoyed him missing every shot he took too.

Next game is Friday against the Lakers.

 

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